Sucheta Dalal :Enforcement Directorate back in the limelight in 2009
Sucheta Dalal

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Enforcement Directorate back in the limelight in 2009  

December 31, 2009

High-profile economic offences, particularly the case for alleged money-laundering against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and the multi-crore Satyam scam, kept the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on its toes all through 2009, reports PTI.

 

The ED hogged the media headlines for days together in connection with the multi-crore illegal investments and hawala case against Mr Koda and his former Cabinet colleagues.

 

The ED also nabbed a businessman, Naresh Jain, an alleged associate of Dawood Ibrahim, in connection with a hawala racket.

 

Mr Jain, who is accused of running a hawala network of over Rs5,000 crore, was first booked under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and later arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in a joint operation with the ED.

 

Arrested in Dubai two years back in a coordinated operation with the US and European security agencies, Mr Jain is also being probed for his alleged links with international terrorist and India's most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim.

 

As various agencies probed the over Rs13,000 crore Satyam scam, the ED went ahead and attached close to 285 properties worth over Rs1,000 crore of Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju, his relatives and others on the charge of money laundering.

 

The ED worked in close coordination with the Income-Tax Department, state vigilance departments, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the Narcotics Control Bureau in order to crack various cases.

 

Another case the agency handled during the year was the alleged FDI violations of realty major Emmar MGF.

 

The ED searched 13 premises of the firm, which is constructing the 2010 Commonwealth Games village in the national capital, at a time when the firm was getting ready for an initial public offering (IPO) worth Rs3,850 crore.

 

US-based Yum Restaurants, which owns the franchise for KFC and Pizza Hut in India, came under the ED scanner for allegedly failing to bring in Rs390 crore ($80 million) foreign investment in the country after getting prior government approval.

 

In the case of Pune-based stud farm owner Hassan Ali Khan, the ED had acted in 2008 for alleged FEMA violations to the tune of over Rs39,000 crore, but investigations are going on at a snail's pace.

Yogesh Sapkale

 


-- Sucheta Dalal