Pulled up by the Bombay High Court for its handling of the Adarsh Housing Society case, the Enforcement Directorate may soon register a money laundering case against various individuals in connection with alleged financial irregularities in sale of flats.
The Mumbai unit of the Directorate has initiated a probe into the ‘benami’ transactions and other financial deals done by various individuals of the society and has also begun to go through the FIR registered by the CBI in this case.
“A case under money laundering laws would be registered once the CBI FIR is gone through thoroughly.
“Some other facts are also being verified,” sources in the ED said.
The agency, meanwhile, has also requested the Bombay High Court to allow its Special Director or the Joint Director based in Mumbai to present a status report in the case instead of the ED Director on March 12, as directed by the High Court on February 28.
The charge of ED chief is currently being held as “additional responsibility” by the 1979-batch IAS officer in Finance Ministry, Mr Arvind Rajan, since the incumbent Mr Arun Mathur retired on February 29.
The High Court had earlier rebuked the CBI and ED for their handling of the Adarsh probe and had warned that it may have to constitute a special team to investigate the case if the progress was found to be tardy by them.
The court expressed unhappiness with the ED for its failure to initiate a probe against the members of the scam-tainted Adarsh Housing Society for money laundering, terming it as a “serious lapse’’.
“It is unfortunate that ED has remained a mute spectator.
“There is a serious lapse on the agency’s part for not probing into money laundering offence. ED has not moved an inch. It reflects a sorry state of affairs,” a Division Bench of Mr Justices P.B. Majmudar and R.D. Dhanuka had observed last month.