Chandigarh, July 25 (IANS) The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Chandigarh Zonal Office, on Friday provisionally attached immovable properties of approximately Rs 3.46 crore in the case of embezzlement of government funds belonging to the Municipal Council of Bhiwani in Haryana.

Out of the attached properties, assets of Rs 2.30 crore belong to Ran Singh Yadav, former President of the Municipal Council and the mastermind of the embezzlement. The remaining assets belong to other middlemen and co-conspirators, the ED said in a statement.

The ED initiated investigation on the basis of an first information report (FIR) registered by Bhiwani Police under various sections of the Indian Penal Code against various officials of Municipal Council, officials of a private bank and other private people for embezzlement of the government funds of the Municipal Council that was allocated for various civic projects.

The ED investigation revealed that the significant amount of Rs 12.97 crore of government funds were misappropriated and siphoned off through fraudulent transfers to bank accounts of private firms by conspiring with other officials of the Municipal Council and the bank officials of Axis Bank.

Notably, the recipient firms were not allotted any work orders by the Municipal Council. The ED had earlier issued attachment order attaching immovable properties of Vinod Goyal (middleman) and Nitesh Agarwal (Axis Bank Manager), to the tune of Rs 3.99 crore and the same has been confirmed by the adjudicating authority under the PMLA. Further investigation is under progress, said the ED.

The ED is a law enforcement and economic intelligence agency of the Central government.

Established on May 1, 1956, the ED is responsible for enforcing economic laws and combating financial crimes.

It operates under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, and has headquarters in Delhi.

The primary mandate of the ED is to enforce the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).

–IANS

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