Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Saturday conducted searches at seven places in Jammu and Kashmir relating to suspicious transactions in the J&K Bank.
ED initiated an investigation under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) after Crime Investigation Department (CID), Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK), Srinagar registered FIR against officials of J&K Bank, unidentified public servants, and private persons, and others for suspicious transactions in various bank accounts. It has been alleged in the FIR that the bank accounts were used for routing money of public servants as well as some private parties. Further, bank officials, in connivance with these public servants, deliberately omitted to raise the alerts as required under Anti-Money Laundering (AML) norms.
Investigations conducted under PMLA so far have revealed that the transactions in many of these bank accounts maintained with J &K Bank were not genuine and these accounts were utilised for the purpose of laundering. On the basis of specific information, searches at seven places belonging to Mohd. Ibrahim Dar, Murtaza Enterprises, Azad Agro Traders, M & M Cottage Industries, and Mohd. Sultan Teli was conducted which resulted in the recovery of evidence of money laundering as the bank accounts have been found to be used for routing suspicious transactions.
Among the seven locations, six were in Srinagar and one was in Anantnag district.
The parties covered under searches are involved in hospitality and agro-based industries, civil construction, and real estate. Statements of persons covered in the searches are being recorded to unravel the source of huge credits and debits in their accounts. Recovered incriminating documents and soft data are also being analysed. Further investigation is under progress.
( With inputs from ANI )
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