Money laundering: ED files supplementary chargesheet against ex-Haryana Chief Minister OP Chautala
The agency said it had attached immovable assets worth Rs 3.68 crore in Delhi, Panchkula and Sirsa on April 13.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday filed a supplementary chargesheet against former Haryana Chief Minister OP Chautala for his alleged role in a money laundering case, PTI reported. The agency said that it had attached immovable assets worth Rs 3.68 crore in Delhi, Panchkula and Sirsa on April 13.
The Enforcement Directorate accused Chautala of depositing the illegal funds in the bank accounts of his family members. The agency said that its investigation, under the purview of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, indicated that these illegal funds were used to buy new properties or construct structures on the properties.
The agency told special judge Kamini Lau that it suspected that Chautala had siphoned illegal funds into several other properties and that an investigation into the matter is under way. “During the period between May 24, 1993, and May 5, 2006, OP Chautala, while functioning as a public servant [chief minister of Haryana], allegedly acquired assets disproportionate to his income to the tune of Rs 6,09,79,026,” the agency’s chargesheet said. “The value of the disproportionate assets acquired by OP Chautala is in the form of various movable and immovable properties which constitutes ‘proceeds of crime’ in this case.”
The judge scheduled the next hearing for May 16.
The former chief minister is currently in jail for illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained teachers in Haryana in 2000.
In March 2010, the Central Bureau of Investigation had accused Chautala of illegally possessing assets worth Rs 6.09 crore. The Enforcement Directorate had filed a separate case based on the CBI’s first information report.