RANCHI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made significant revelations in a money laundering case being investigated by the agency under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) linked with the alleged ‘Tender Scam’ in Jharkhand Rural Development Department.
According to details surfaced during the ED’s investigation, huge amount of money was illegally generated as ‘cut money’ by staffs of the department and then distributed on commission basis between the employees and the then minister for Rural Development, Alamgir Alam.
Commission money was collected by chief engineers, executive engineers and assistant engineers posted at the Jharkhand Rural Development Department, Rural Work Department, Jharkhand State Rural Development Agency, and Rural Development Special Division in lieu of managing tenders linked with the mentioned departments.
The agency’s investigation into the case has further revealed that chief engineer Rajiv Lochan, Pramod Kumar, Singrai Tuti and executive engineers Ajay Kumar, Ajay Tirkey, and Santosh Kumar have confessed about the modus of commission base corruption along handing over the collected money to Sanjeev Lal, personal secretary of Alamgir Alam.
ED has also mentioned about the recovery of a diary, containing details of the cut money worth Rs 53 crore. According to the details unveiled, around 3-4% of cut money was extorted on each tender which was subsequently distributed among the officials of the department and the minister.
Around 1.65% of the illegally generated money was distributed among the bureaucrats who had a share of 0.75%, chief engineers each of them receiving .5% and .4% for junior engineers and others. Alamgir Alam’s share in the cut money was 1.35% on each of such managed tenders.
One of the builders during the interrogation has also confessed about collecting around Rs 53 crore of commission money between July and December last year. He later handed over Rs 50 crore of the extorted money to Sanjeev Lal out of which more than Rs 30 crore was recovered by the ED during the raids conducted on Lal’s domestic help Jehangir’s flat on May 6 this year.
Alleged Tender Commission Scam
Notably, the ED is probing a money laundering case linked to illegal generation of crores of rupees as commission money for managing tenders issued to separate companies from the Jharkhand Rural Development Ministry.
The agency had earlier submitted before the court that Alam had a significant share in the illegal money generated as a commission money for managing tenders allotted by the department. ED had further claimed that crores of rupees as commission money was paid to a close aide of Alamgir in September 2022 by an engineer of the department.
The central agency had also claimed that the money (approx. 37 crore) recovered from the premises linked to Lal’s house help Jehangir and others is linked to the Jharkhand minister. The amount was collected as a cut money from several companies after issuing them letter of acceptance of concerned tenders.
The ongoing investigation stems from a probe launched by the agency linked to irregularities in implementation of some government schemes. The agency arrested Virendra K Ram the then chief engineer at the Rural Development Department in connection with the case in February last year.
Alamgir Alam’s arrest
Alam was summoned by ED to appear before its zonal office in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi on May 14, a week after the sleuths of the agency raided premises linked to Alam’s secretary Sanjeev Lal and his domestic help Jehangir, recovering a huge cash haul along various documents and letters linked with Rural Development Department.
Read more at: ED arrests minister Aalamgir Alam, days after it recovers huge cash haul from premises linked to his PS……
ED arrested both Sanjiv Lal and Jehangir after initial interrogation and summoned the Congress leader and minister Alamgir Alam to appear before the agency’s zonal office from where he was apprehended on May 15. Alam was part of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led government cabinet from Congress quota.
His arrest stormed the political galleries of the state, prompting the opposition leaders to demand his removal from the ministry, though the Congress leader did not tender his resignation from the portfolios held by him after which he was relieved from the charge of Rural Development Department, Parliamentary Affairs, Rural Works Department and Panchayati Raj Department in June this year.
