ED attaches Rs 11.57 cr worth assets in ambulances case

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday said it has attached assets worth Rs 11.57 crore in connection with a 2015 case relating to the ambulance service scheme scam in Rajasthan.

"Movable and immovable assets worth Rs 11. 57 crore of Ziquitza Healthcare Limited and its directors Sweta Mangal and Ravi Krishna have been attached under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) in Rajasthan's 108 Ambulance Service Scheme scam," an Enforcement Directorate official said.

The agency registered a criminal case on September 9, 2015, on the basis of a Central Bureau of Investigation FIR filed on August 24, 2015, under sections dealing with criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery of the Indian Penal Code.

The CBI registered the case on a complaint by the Vasundhara Raje government against the earlier government led by Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Congress leader Sachin Pilot, former Union Minister P. Chindambaram's son Karti Chidambaram and officials of Ziqitza Healthcare were among the accused.

Gehlot, along with the other persons, was accused of rigging the tendering procedure for buying new ambulances in the company's favour.

Investigators said that Ziqitiza Healthcare was awarded the tender for the ambulance service by the then Rajasthan government in 2010 though it was not adequately qualified as per the tender requirements.

"The company committed a number of irregularities in the execution of the scheme, like submission of exaggerated claims for off-road vehicles, non-maintenance of vehicles, non-operated vehicles and showing false counting of trips, alteration and manipulation in software and generation of fictitious data in claims of the operation."

The official said the firm was also accused of violating the norms by not installing the Global Positioning System in all vehicles for a long period and non-deduction of penalty in this regard.

"Due to irregularities committed during the scheme's execution, Ziqitiza Healthcare made illegal gains of Rs 23 crore. The illegal gains acquired by the firm and its directors in the form of scheme's operational cost are proceeds of crime," the official said.

Investigators also found that the funds were laundered through the company accounts into movable and immovable assets.

--IANS

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