Govt transfers ED's Kolkata region chief Yogesh Gupta; posted in Delhi

The Centre has transferred senior IPS officer Yogesh Gupta, ED's special director heading the eastern region, to Delhi, an official order said.

Gupta, a 1993-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Kerala cadre, was heading the Enforcement Directorate (ED) eastern region headquarters at Kolkata since 2014 and led the investigations into some of the much talked about money-laundering cases in West Bengal and adjoining states like the Saradha, Rose Valley and Narada scams.

A number of politicians were questioned by the central agency in these cases and more chargesheets are expected.

An order issued by the Union finance ministry on Monday said Gupta has been transferred and appointed the central probe agency's special director (adjudication) at its headquarters in Delhi.

Gupta has been credited for heading the probes that led to the first two convictions under the anti-money laundering law (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) in the country. The first such conviction for the ED came in 2017 of former Jharkhand minister Hari Narayan Rai.

The PMLA was enacted in 2002 and implemented in 2005 to check serious crimes of tax evasion and generation of black money.

According to data, of the about a dozen convictions achieved by the ED in the country, five were secured in the eastern region.

The eastern region of the agency also obtained the first order for "confiscation" of assets in a money-laundering case linked to a drugs probe.

A few months ago, the eastern region of the ED also issued the biggest-ever notice under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) as it show-caused the Shree Ganesh Jewellery House for Rs 7,220 crore.

The company is among the top 100 wilful bank-loan defaulters in the country, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The ED attached properties worth about Rs 10,000 crore, including in major Ponzi scheme or chit fund cases of eastern India like Saradha, Rose Valley and Seashore scams, during the tenure of Gupta.

The agency has filed multiple chargesheets in these cases, apart from probing the Narada tapes scandal.

The finance ministry's order said another special director (central region) of the ED, Vivek Wadekar, will hold the eastern region's charge in an additional capacity.

Last month, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) had posted the agency's principal special director, Simanchala Dash, as Adviser to the Executive Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.

The ED, which enforces the PMLA and FEMA in the country, is headed by a director and has six special directors who head various regions and verticals.