Ex-EPF chief, former bank executive under ED scanner

Chennai: As part of nationwide raids by the Enforcement Directorate against corrupt officials, the premises of a former regional commissioner of employees provident fund in Chennai and a former senior executive of Indian Bank were searched by sleuths on Thursday.

ED sources said that houses of former regional EPF commissioner S.Durga Prasad in Keezhkatalai and former Indian Bank senior executive Pandiarajan, were raided on Thursday and incriminating documents were seized during the searches. The ED had registered money-laundering cases against the two under Prevention of Money Laundering Act. “Both the officers are facing CBI cases for corruption,” ED sources added. The ED sleuths had also raided the house of one Aathinarayanan, who was reportedly very close to Pandiarajan.

It may be recalled that Durga Prasad, who was arrested by CBI in January 2016 on graft charges, had been allegedly amassing wealth worth many crores of rupees by blackmailing hundreds of private firms, which had been dodging the remittance of PF contributions to the exchequer.

The ED on Thursday conducted raids on the premises of 18 bureaucrats / retired and suspended officials across nine states in connection with their involvement in alleged violations, money laundering and other cases. Raids were carried out in Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.