The ED will study the financial record of six core companies believed to be under control of Singh but not involved in any active business to earn the kind of income projected.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has set up a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe charges of money laundering against Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, who has denied the charge.
The ED investigation follows a May 20 Allahabad High Court order asking ED to probe charges that Singh misused his position as chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Development Council (UPDC) in 2003 to receive kickbacks of Rs 500 crore from various government contracts that he then laundered through shell companies in the period 2003-2007. The court said the matter had “national ramifications.”
The ED will study the financial record of six core companies believed to be under control of Singh but not involved in any active business to earn the kind of income projected. The six are Energy Development Company Ltd (EDCL), Pankaja Art and Credit Pvt Limited, Sarvottam Caps Ltd, EDCL Power Projects Ltd, EDCL Infrastructure and Ester India.
Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan could also be probed. He is a director of EDCL. The FIR, filed by lawyer Shiva Kant Tripathi in 2009, alleged that 43 shell companies launched by Singh to launder money were later amalgamated into these six core companies to evade detection of the money trail.
A separate investigation by the Uttar Pradesh Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) that several of the shell companies had bogus directors was likely to help the ED in its probe. During its investigation, the EOW physically verified if offices of the companies actually existed. Investigators also recorded statements of the so-called directors, many of whom were found to have no knowledge of the companies in which they were shown as directors by Singh and his brother Arvind Singh.
“I am not above the law. The investigating agencies must satisfy themselves after thorough investigations. With the case being transferred to ED, I think there can be a proper inquiry since the UP Police is not experienced in probing corporate matters. I have done nothing wrong and I am not scared of the ED probe,” Amar Singh told DNA.
Singh insisted that the ED should not involve Bachchan in the probe. “Why should Amitabh Bachchan be dragged into this? He is not a leading tycoon? Amitabh Bachchan has hardly attended any meetings. Though he is a director he is hardly involved in the functioning of the company,” Singh said. DNA has a copy of the EOW report.
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