Mumbai : In a fresh blow to the Nationalist Congress Party, the Enforcement Directorate has attached property worth Rs 120 crore of party functionary and sitting MLA Ramesh Kadam, in a case of embezzlement of Rs 300 crore from a state-run corporation.
The MLA was the president of the Lokshahir Annabhau Sathe Development Corporation from August 2012 to December 2014, which is the period during which he is reported to have misappropriated the funds. Kadam is believed to have colluded with officials of this corporation and gave out funds to various institutions for their personal benefit, and thus siphoned off the amount of Rs 300 crore.
The NCP leaders and other are said to have cheated the corporation and used the ill-gotten wealth to purchase various properties and other investments.
The ED has issued a provisional attachment order for seizing a flat in Borivali area of Mumbai, agricultural land in Aurangabad district, land in the premium area of Peddar Road in Mumbai, along with shares and bank balances. The ED had earlier registered a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act against Kadam last year that was based on a complaint by the state CID.
Following investigations by the ED, it was shown that Kadam and other accused persons had fraudulently acquired and misappropriated huge funds from the corporation meant for the uplift of the Matang community and had laundered these proceeds of crime through fictitious entities created by them for this specific purpose and further integrated the same into movable and immovable properties in their personal and company’s name.” The agency said while the value of the seized assets is about Rs 50 crore, their “actual value is in excess of Rs 120 crore.”
This matter had come up for discussion in the state assembly on Wednesday when Minister of State for Social Justice Dilip Kamble, in the Maharashtra Assembly, had accused Kadam of massive irregularities in the state-run corporation, saying he has indulged in corruption to the tune of Rs 500 crore. The minister had said the CID report in the case has found that Kadam was instrumental in purchase of 59 luxury cars from the corporation funds. Kamble, while tabling the CID report in the house, had said the vehicles were used by NCP functionaries, including some district and tehsil unit chiefs. Kadam was also arrested from Pune in August last year by the state CID during its inquiry into the case.
The ED is already in the process of investigating former NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal, his MLA son Pankaj, ex-MP nephew Samir in a separate money laundering case registered to probe alleged financial irregularities in the construction of Maharashtra Sadan and the Andheri RTO. The agency filed its first charge sheet in the case yesterday at the sessions court in Mumbai and has named several top builders in the case.
