New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 5.54 crore of a former DIPR of the Assam government in a case of alleged fraud in public funds, the ED said on Friday.
The ED has issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against ex-DIPR Ranjit Gogoi.
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The ED in a statement said its probe found that “in connivance with Assam government officials and others, different companies were able to get the work order in ‘Vision Assam Mission Assam project’, even though they did not have the required pre-qualification and laundered the proceeds of crime received by them.”
The total proceeds of crime identified in the case till now is Rs 16.36 crore, it said.
The ED filed a money laundering case against the accused after studying an October 2017 FIR of the CM Vigilance Cell, a police unit directly under the supervision of the Assam chief minister which charged them with “misappropriation” of government money.
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In November, 2017, the chief minister’s Special Vigilance Cell arrested DIPR Ranjit Gogoi for alleged irregularities in putting up publicity hoardings of government schemes during the Congress tenure.
Police had filed FIRs naming Gogoi and a few businessmen along with their firms for alleged corruption in putting up the hoardings across all districts for the ‘Vision Assam Mission Assam’ scheme, just before the Assembly polls in 2016.