Hyderabad: Public servants booked by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) under the Prevention of Corruption Act are also likely to be booked under the Prohibition of Benami Properties Act by the income-tax department.
Those caught with disproportionate assets will most likely be grilled by the Enforcement Directorate and I-T too.
This means that an officer who has been raided and booked cannot escape with a single Prevention of Corruption Act case.
During the raid, if any unaccounted money transaction is found, or properties are found to be registered in a private person’s name, the ED and the I-T Special Branch can get in on the act too. This is happening in the two Telugu speaking states.
While the prohibition of Money Laundering Act cases will be booked by the ED, the prohibition of Benami Properties Act cases will be booked by the Income Tax department.
Probes by I-T, ED to be parallel
A senior income tax officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told this newspaper that in a majority of disproportionate assets cases booked by the Anti Corruption Bureau, there are two aspects: the assets could be accumulated through illegal means, and the public servant could have registered the properties in benami or proxy names.
“If this is found to be the case, then the I-T and Enforcement Direc-torate investigate further, with the reference provided by the ACB. The accused will be further booked under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amend-ment Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA),” the officer said.
The Anti Corruption Bureaus of TS and AP will soon be referring cases to the ED and I-T.
AP ACB Director-General R.P. Thakur said, “I-T and ED will run a parallel investigation and book cases accordingly. The AP ACB is already working on referring three big catches.
