ED looking into Mumbai-based used car dealer’s role in PMLA case against ex-govt official

Mumbai: An Enforcement Directorate (ED) money-laundering probe against a former central government officer has revealed the alleged role of a Mumbai-based car dealer whose help the accused’s relative had sought while attempting to sell off a car that is under the case’s scanner, agency sources said.

The agency’s case is based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered by Odisha’s Vigilance authorities against the former officer, and his family members, for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets. 

DA case

According to the source, the vigilance authorities had alleged that the accused had amassed assets worth over Rs9 crore that were disproportionate to his known sources of income. Later, in its search, the ED seized the accused’s high-end car, whose worth was estimated to be over Rs74 lakh.

“During the investigation being conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, it was revealed that a relative of the accused former officer had surreptitiously attempted to sell the car to a dealer of used cars in Mumbai,” the source said. Apart from the vigilance case, the accused had seven other cases registered by police authorities in Odisha against him. The police cases were based on allegations that the accused had duped gullible people in the name of providing jobs in a private firm. 

The ED, in its search operations undertaken in the case, had also seized another vehicle, estimated to be worth around Rs15 lakh, along with various incriminating documents/evidence. Subsequently, the ED also issued a provisional attachment order against the accused and others wherein identified properties worth Rs29.83 lakh belonging to them were attached, which were confirmed by the adjudicating authority under the PMLA.