Properties of corrupt officers attached

Hyderabad: Besides big scams like Emaar and Satyam, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is also targeting corrupt bureaucrats. Following inputs from law enforcement agencies of both Centre and the state, including the Central Bureau of Investigation, Anti-Corruption Bureau and Crime Investigation Department, the properties of corrupt officials against whom chargesheets have been filed, are being attached by the Enforcement Directorate.

The ED, which had recently attached the properties of former ACB Court judge Pattabhi Rama Rao, accused in the Rs 9.5-crore cash-for-bail scam involving mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy, is now working towards attaching properties in other cases.

Prominent among the cases is the one investigated by the CBI involving Railway engineer Gopal Reddy and another by the CID involving IFS official  A. Kishan. The ED has listed 71 properties of Mr Gopal Reddy and also properties of Mr Kishan and is working towards attaching these.

Telangana ACB director  Kumar Viswajeet said, “Normally we have fewer major cases in ACB than CBI. Whichever case we feel is very important, we refer to the ED for attachment of properties.” The cash-for-bail scam was one such case.

“We have filed a supplementary chargesheet in the ACB case too,” said Mr Viswajeet. A CBI official said, “We are referring all the cases, wherein the assets are more than Rs 30 lakh to ED for attachment under PMLA. Earlier we used to do it under the Criminal Law Amendment Act. It’s a tedious process, as the courts have to pass orders. Under PMLA, it is a relatively easier task. Railway engineer Gopal Reddy’s case has been referred to the ED.”

In June 2010, the CBI had trapped Mr Gopal Reddy, senior divisional engineer of South Central Railways, while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000. Later, the CBI found Rs 70 lakh in his house and also found  properties worth crores.

IFS official A. Kishan of the AP Women’s Co-operative Finance Corporation allegedly committed several irregularities in several work contracts and caused losses to the government exchequer to the tune of Rs 9.11 crore.

An investigating official said, “So far there was an opinion that if they were arrested in a cheating case and if they got convicted, they would serve less than three years in jail and  enjoy the properties they earned illegally. With PMLA it is not possible.”