Yadav Singh case: ED to slap money laundering charges

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is soon expected to register a criminal case of money laundering against former Chief Engineer of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway Yadav Singh and his associates.
The agency was asked by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money to file a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against him last December but the absence of a "predicate offence" against the officer was a legal obstacle being faced by the ED to go ahead in this regard.
With the CBI registering a case against Singh and conducting searches on his premises today, the ED, sources said, will soon file a case and begin formal probe under PMLA laws taking cosgnisance of the former agency's criminal complaint.

Sources said the SIT had a meeting here yesterday and reviewed the case with both CBI and ED.
They said the ED has detected good leads against the officer and his associates which could form the basis of a probe under anti-money laundering laws.
The CBI, after an Allahabad High Court order, registered two cases against Singh and his family members for alleged corruption and amassing assets disproportionate to known sources of income.

Close on the heels of lodging these two cases with a special CBI court, the agency today carried out searches at 14 locations including at Yadav's residence and offices of Noida.

The ED, sources said, will also get in touch with the Income Tax department to obtain more information about the financial details on Singh as the tax sleuths were the first to have taken action against him as they conducted searches on his premises in Uttar Pradesh last year.
"The scrutiny of ITRs and other connecting records have allegedly revealed that during the period 2009-2014, the total likely savings of the family of then Chief Engineer was Rs 1.70 crore (approx) whereas they were in possession of immovable property worth Rs 3.60 crore (approx).
"Besides, an amount of Rs 10 crore (approx) was allegedly recovered from one of his associates, which also reportedly belonged to then Chief Engineer," CBI spokesperson said here.