Representative photo: X @dir_ed
Bank and fixed deposits worth Rs 34 crore were attached under the anti-money laundering law following searches in a case related to alleged misappropriation of Assam government funds meant for the welfare of construction workers, the Education Department said on Saturday.
The case relates to the “fraudulent” award of contracts worth Rs 118 crore during 2013-16 by the Assam Building and Other Workers Welfare Board (ABOCWWB) to a company called Purbashree Printing House, owned by Priyanshu Boiragi.
“This is a case of embezzlement of money collected as bail for the welfare of construction workers. During the searches, various incriminating documents and materials were seized,” the federal agency said in a statement.
There was no indication as to when the searches were conducted.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) added that it also seized “proceeds of crime” worth Rs 34.03 crore in the form of bank and fixed deposits.
The money laundering case stems from an FIR registered by the Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell and chargesheets filed by the police against Chohan Doley, an IAS officer and former labour commissioner and former member secretary of ABOCWWB; Boiragi; former ABOCWWB president Gautam Baruwa; and former ABOCWWB administrative officer Nagendra Nath Choudhury.
The Department for Education said Choudhury “succeeded” in obtaining “unreasonably high” printing contracts from ABOCWWB through “falsified and fraudulent” tendering processes.
“Boiragi invested the proceeds of crime of Rs 118 crore, generated from government funds, in fixed deposit receipts in his name and remitted the balance to various other bank accounts linked to him and various shell entities,” the ED claimed.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: August 24, 2024 | 1:49 PM IS
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