The summons have been issued on charges of embezzlement of funds in the Maharashtra Sadan scam, criminal breach of trust in a residential project at Navi Mumbai and for money laundering, traced back to Indonesia-based coal projects.
The coming week may not augur well for the Bhujbals. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Pankaj and Samir – son and nephew respectively of NCP leader and former Public Works Department (PWD) minister Chhagan Bhujbal – over an alleged Rs 800 crore fraud, committed by the duo and their associates.
The summons have been issued on charges of embezzlement of funds in the Maharashtra Sadan scam, criminal breach of trust in a residential project at Navi Mumbai and for money laundering, traced back to Indonesia-based coal projects.
"The duo has been given a week's time to dispose themselves in our Mumbai office," a senior ED official told dna.
The agency is likely to also question their role in Hex World project, promoted by a realty firm they owned. The property is a residential project at Navi Mumbai involving an amount of Rs 44 crore.
Apart from these, Bhujbals may also face tough questions related to the money trail established under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and anti-money laundering Act.
Two companies in Singapore – Armstrong Global and Armstrong Infrastructure – set up by the duo, were used to made investments in some unknown coal mine projects located in Indonesia. "Investigations revealed that these companies were used for money laudering by the Bhujbals. We have evidence of money trail," said an ED official.
So far, a trail of over Rs 30 crore has been established by the agency. Both Singapore companies are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Mumbai-based Armstrong Energy Pvt Ltd, in which Pankaj and Samir are directors.
Armstrong Energy was said to have been formed to push their business interests in renewable energy sector.
The special investigation team, comprising Anti-Corruption Bureau of Maharashtra police (ACB) and ED, is probing nine allegations against the politician and his relatives. Of these, three cases have been closed, while two were referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The ED investigation is based on two FIRs filed by the ACB against Bhujbals for alleged irregularities in allotment of a prime plot at Kalina in Mumbai worth Rs 88 crore.
The second case involves large-scale irregularities of Rs 749 crore in the construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan, the government guest house in Delhi. Bhujbal's PWD ministry had allegedly awarded sub-contracts to firms in blatant violation of rules.
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