ED attaches properties worth Rs 4.5 crore in Coimbatore

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties worth Rs 4.5 crore of a former Bishop in Coimbatore for allegedly defrauding a charitable trust last year.
The ED attached a property in Salem district in the name of the wife of former CSI Bishop of Coimbatore Manickam Dorai. It also issued similar orders against two separate lands of his brother M Moorthy under the provisions of money laundering laws.
The Crime Branch of state police had registered a case against Dorai and Moorthy for "misappropriation of Diocese funds, a public charitable trust, to the tune of Rs 7.93 crore" and also filed a charge sheet in this regard.

"Investigation further showed that all the above properties were acquired out of the proceeds of crime and were involved in the offence of money laundering. The present market value of the attached properties works out to Rs 4.5 crore approximately," the ED office here said in its order.
An ED attachment is aimed at denying the accused benefits of the property under the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The accused can challenge the order at the Adjudicating Authority of PMLA based in Delhi.