India News | DMF Contractors in Chhattisgarh Paid Huge Kickbacks to Officials, Political Executives: ED
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Enforcement Directorate on Monday alleged that mining contractors linked to the District Mineral Fund (DMF) in Chhattisgarh paid "huge amounts of illegal gratification" to state officials and political executives in exchange for getting official work tenders.
New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Monday alleged that mining contractors linked to the District Mineral Fund (DMF) in Chhattisgarh paid "huge amounts of illegal gratification" to state officials and political executives in exchange for getting official work tenders.
The federal agency said in a statement that it carried out searches in this case at 13 locations in the state on March 1 and seized about Rs 27 lakh cash apart from "incriminating" digital and paper documents.
The money laundering probe into the alleged DMF scam was initiated after studying three FIRs registered by Chhattisgarh Police. The FIRs booked the contractors and some other accused on charges of siphoning off government funds in collusion with state officials and political executives.
"This case is related to corruption in the use of funds from the DMF in Chhattisgarh. The DMF is a trust funded by miners that has been set up in all districts of the state with an aim to work for the benefit of those affected by mining-related projects and activities," the ED said.
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The contractors "paid huge amounts of commission/illegal gratification to officials and political executives, which is to the tune of 25-40 per cent of the contract value", it alleged.
The ED said cash used for "payment of kickbacks" was generated by the vendors using accommodation (hawala) entries.
Quoting an instance, the ED said the DMF allocated to Korba district was more than Rs 2,000 crore (till FY 2022-23).
At the prevalent rate, the commission amount in Korba alone would be Rs 500-600 crore. Analysis of data for the whole state and quantification of proceeds of crime is underway, the ED said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)