Chandigarh: While the Haryana Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has intensified investigations to nail offenders in the Rs 590 crore bank scam involving Haryana govt departments, now the Directorate of Enforcement has also stepped in to probe the matter.Sources informed that the Chandigarh zonal office of the federal agency, which probes the proceeds of crime for the purpose of investigations, formally requisitioned a copy of the FIR, along with communication made by the chief secretary’s office for registration of the case. The agency also sought updates on the confession statements of the accused arrested by the ACB so far. As of now, the ACB has arrested five accused, including Rishabh Rishi, a former employee of AU Small Bank; his associate Abhay, Abhay’s wife Swati Singla, and her brother Abhishek Singla, in a case registered at the ACB’s police station in Sector 17 Panchkula.Naresh Kumar Bhuwani, the superintendent of the development and panchayats department, was the latest to be arrested in the case for receiving kickbacks of over Rs 1 crore in the form of luxury cars and other investments.“According to the PMLA Act, the ED has suo moto power to initiate investigations to probe the proceeds of crime and to track complete money trail of an amount of over Rs 1 crore. Since the amount involved was over Rs 580 crore, it warranted investigation,” a senior official close to the development said.Meanwhile, enquiries made during the investigation suggested that both agencies were in the process of finalising the main beneficiaries, including the jewellery shop owners, those in the bullion market of Chandigarh, and a couple of local builders. Notably, this is the fourh such case which is being simultanenously probed by the ED and the state agencies in the recent past. MSID:: 128917016 413 |
