CJI BR Gavai criticises Enforcement Directorate for overreach, halts further proceedings in Tasmac case until further notice
In April, the ED filed a chargesheet in connection with the money laundering case linked to the National Herald case, naming Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting searches at educational institutions that are said to be linked to Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara at Tumakuru and on the outskirts of Bengaluru, official sources said on Wednesday. According to sources, the searches were underway at Sri Siddhartha Medical College and Sri Siddhartha Institute Of Technology in Tumakuru and Sri Siddhartha Institute Of Medical Sciences in Nelamangala on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The reasons for the searches are not yet known. When reporters questioned about this, Chief Minister Siddarmaiah said, "I don't know...I will check and speak." Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said, "What is there to do it (searches) on educational institutions. I don't have proper information. I get information and react to it.
The company has issued a statement denying the allegations, describing them as unfounded and without merit
The former CMD of Uco bank was arrested by the ED from his residence in New Delhi; special PMLA court in Kolkata grants ED custody of Goel till May 21
ED arrests ex-Uco Bank CMD Subodh Goel in ₹6,210 crore fraud case; agency alleges he received illegal gratification via shell firms during credit sanctions to CSPL
Tamil Nadu Excise Minister S Muthusamy on Saturday alleged the Enforcement Directorate harassed state government officials in the probe over its allegation of a scam in state-run TASMAC and violated procedures mandated by the Supreme Court. The minister accused the central agency of "political vendetta" and strongly condemned it and assured all legal measures against it. Also, Muthusamy said the government would firmly back the state officials at all times. In a statement, Muthusamy, who holds the portfolios of Housing, Prohibition and Excise said ED's searches in the headquarters of government-run liquor chain TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation) had ulterior political motives. It was an attempt to portray as if irregularities happened in the TASMAC during the DMK regime. However, the ED's action was based on cases registered during the AIADMK regime by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption. During the searches, no proof was found to substantiate alleged ...
"A part of the defrauded amount that was attached and seized by it has been restituted (restored) to the victim banks," ED added
A sessions court in Ahmedabad on Friday granted 15-day interim bail to Bahubali Shah, one of the owners of leading Gujarati newspaper 'Gujarat Samachar', on health grounds. The Enforcement Directorate had arrested Shah a day before following raids at the newspaper's premises. Principal District and Sessions Judge K M Sojitra ordered Shah's release on bail till May 31 on furnishing surety and personal bond of Rs 10,000. The investigating official must be apprised of his health status every alternate day and Shah must cooperate with the agency, the court said. Shah had approached the court seeking bail on the grounds of "serious medical/health condition".
According to the release, during the course of search operations, Bank funds to the tune of Rs 2 Crore (approx) were freezed, Rs 30 Lakh seized in cash and Rs 7 Lakh crypto were freezed
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday reserved its order on a plea of alleged middleman Christian Michel James seeking modification of his bail conditions in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money laundering case. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma heard the counsel for James and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and said she would pass a detailed order in the matter. Michel, who joined the proceedings from Tihar Jail through video-conferencing, confirmed filing the plea through his lawyer. The court previously asked Michel whether he had filed the application through his counsel for the modification of bail conditions. James sought relaxing the bail condition which asked him to furnish a surety of Rs 5 lakh aside from asking to revoke the condition of surrendering his passport. His old passport expired and the process of obtaining a new one is likely to take at least four-eight weeks, his plea said. James' counsel said he couldn't be made to languish in jail even after securing bail till
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday launched multiple searches in Gujarat as part of a money laundering investigation linked to alleged financial irregularities in certain Waqf properties in the state, official sources said. A case has been filed by the agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) taking cognisance of a Ahmedabad Police FIR field against one Salim Khan Jumma Khan Pathan, Mohammad Yasar Abdulhamiya Sheikh, Mehmud Khan Jumma Khan Pathan, Fezmohamad Pir Mohammad Chobdar, and Saheed Ahmad Yakubhai Sheikh. They had "illegally" claimed to be trustees of the Kanch Ki Masjid Trust and Shah Bada Kasam Trust, the agency said. About nine premises of the accused and their associates are being raided across Gujarat by the Ahmedabad zonal office of the agency, the sources said. The accused entered into "fraud" lease agreements, extorted rents from tenants, and submitted false affidavits to the Waqf Board. The ED, a federal probe agency, suspects that the accuse
Raids are underway by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at five locations in and around Kolkata on Tuesday in connection with its probe into the alleged irregularities in admission to private medical colleges under the non-resident Indian (NRI) quota, an official said. ED sleuths started simultaneous raids in the Ballygunge area in the southern part of the city and New Town on the outskirts of the eastern metropolis, he said. "We are conducting raids in connection with the irregularities in NRI quota admissions. There is a coaching centre in New Town which is being searched," a senior ED official said. The central probe agency is investigating whether documents were forged to create false NRI credentials for admission of local Indian students in medical colleges in Odisha's Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested "absconding" former Haryana Congress MLA Dharam Singh Chhoker from a 5-star hotel in Delhi following a brief scuffle, agency officials said Monday. The 61-year-old ex-legislator was taken into custody from the 'Grappa Bar' of the Shangri-La hotel in central Delhi shortly after 9 pm on Sunday. ED officials said an "intelligence input" was received by them around 8:30 pm on Sunday that Chhoker was present at the hotel bar along with some people. An agency official soon reached the spot in pursuance of seven non-bailable warrants (NBWs) issued against him apart from a proclaimed offender notification issued by a special PMLA court of Gurugram, they said. Officials alleged Chhoker, on being confronted by the ED officer, started rushing towards the exit. The officer along with ED Gurugram zone joint director Navaneet Aggarwal, who was also present in the hotel, chased the ex-MLA and pinned him down. They alleged Chhoker tried to hit the ED offic
Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale on Saturday said 98 per cent of the cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate against politicians were against opposition leaders. "The remaining two per cent are those who went and joined the BJP's 'washing machine,'" he said. Gokhale referred to Thursday's statement of ED Director Rahul Navin, to claim that the surge in cases post-2014 was at the behest of Narendra Modi, who came to power the same year. Speaking at an event on ED Day, Navin said the anti-money laundering law had been "largely ineffective" before 2014 and there has been a significant step-up in enforcement activity since then. In a post on X, Gokhale said, "Yesterday, the head of central agency ED admitted that there's been a surge of cases filed after Modi Government came to power in 2014." "In the last 11 years, a total of 5,297 cases were filed by ED. How many were taken to court for trial? Only 47," he said. The TMC Rajya Sabha MP said the conviction rate in ED cases
Timely completion of money laundering case trials continues to face several "systemic" and "procedural" hurdles, even though there are 100 special PMLA courts across the country, the Enforcement Directorate has said in its latest report. The federal probe agency has been regularly targeted by political parties in the opposition, alleging that its actions were biased and the conviction rate was "poor" -- a claim strongly refuted by the organisation. ED Director Rahul Navin defended the track record of his agency during an event held here on Thursday to mark the 'ED Day', saying its conviction rate was more than 93 per cent. Same day, the ED also released its first-ever annual report, where it devoted a specific chapter to 'Challenges in Expeditious Completion of PMLA Trials'. Till now, the estimate of yearly work done by the agency was clubbed in the 'Annual Report' of the Union finance ministry under which the ED works. "While the legal framework under PMLA (Prevention of Money ..
He attributed the delay in prosecution to the broader issue of slow judicial processes in the country
In a bid to ensure corrective action rather than just punitive measures, the Director added that the ED would encourage defaulters to file for compounding of offences where appropriate
ED director Rahul Navin on Thursday said that the anti-money laundering law was left "largely ineffective" before 2014, and the slowdown in adjudication of these cases can be attributed to the "general delay" in the judicial system of the country coupled with the inherent complexity of such investigations. Navin also said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had a "commendable conviction" rate of 93.6 per cent as out of the 47 cases decided by courts till now, there have been only three acquittals. Speaking at an event held here to mark the 'ED Day', the agency chief said he "acknowledges candidly" that several investigations initiated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) were pending for a "very long time", and one their focus areas this year would be to undertake efforts to complete probe and file "final" chargesheets fast. The PMLA was enacted in 2003 and came into force on July 1, 2005, but, Navin said, it was "largely ineffective" in the initial years with less
West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has granted sanction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prosecute former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee in a money laundering case related to the recruitment of primary teachers in state-run schools, a Raj Bhavan official said on Thursday. The governor had earlier granted sanction to the CBI to prosecute Chatterjee, who is a Trinamool Congress MLA from Behala Paschim assembly constituency, in a case relating to irregularities in secondary school job recruitment. Besides Chatterjee, Bose also granted sanction to the ED to prosecute Manik Bhattacharya, the then president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, in the case relating to alleged irregularities in the recruitment of primary school teachers, the official said. The Calcutta High Court had in December refused bail to Chatterjee, who held the education portfolio from 2011 to 2021, in a school jobs case pertaining to recruitment in secondary schools in the state. Chatterjee