After veteran NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and his family, another party leader in Maharashtra came under the scanner of ED which today attached assets worth Rs 120 crore of sitting MLA Ramesh Kadam in a case of alleged embezzelment of over Rs 300 crore in a state-run corporation.
Kadam, a Nationalist Congress Party MLA from the Mohol seat in Solapur, has been the President of the Lokshahir Annabhau Sathe Development Corporation between August, 2012 and December, 2014, during which, the ED alleged he along with other officials of the corporation allegedly misappropriated large amounts.
"Kadam in collusion with the officials of the corporation and other accused persons hatched a conspiracy and misappropriated funds of the corporation which were given to various institutions for their own benefit and thus embezzled an amount to the tune of over Rs 300 crore.
"While doing this, they cheated and betrayed the corporation and for this purpose they used forged documents as genuine and used the ill-gotten money for their own purposes," the agency said.
The ED registered a criminal complaint against Kadam and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in September last year based on an earlier FIR of the state CID in the said case.
The central probe agency issued a provisional attachment order for seizing a flat, in the name of Kadam and his wife, located in Mumbai's Borivali area, an agricultural land in Aurangabad district, bank balances to the tune of Rs 76.67 lakh and equity shares and a land in the upscale Peddar road area of the western metropolis.
Based on PMLA investigations conducted by the Mumbai zonal office of the ED, the agency said, it is "revealed that Kadam and other accused persons have fraudulently acquired and misappropriated huge funds from the corporation meant for the uplift of the Matang community and have 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.
An attachment order under PMLA is aimed at depriving the
accused from obtaining benefits of their alleged ill-gotten wealth. The accused can appeal against the order before the Adjudicating Authority of the said Act within 180 days.
Only yesterday, Maharashtra's 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 Criminal Investigation Department (CID) during its probe in the case.
The ED is also probing veteran NCP leader 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 the Delhi-based state guest house called 'Maharashtra Sadan' apart from few other cases.
The agency filed its first charge sheet in the case yesterday in Mumbai and has named the senior and junior Bhujbals in its report moved before the court.
