ED registers laundering case against Anil Deshmukh, to probe bribery charge

xMUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against former home minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (MPLA) and will investigate if there was any financial transaction between him and dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Waze.

The ED will examine the financial statements of companies associated with Deshmukh and his family members. It will also investigate firms associated with Waze and his family members and their financial transactions. A source said, “The ED will examine if there was any financial connection between Deshmukh and Waze. Subsequently, they will also inquire if any transaction took place between them and others associated with the bribery allegation, including former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.”
ED may call lawyer who moved Bombay HC for a probe
The ED, which has registered a money laundering case against former home minister Anil Deshmukh, will probe the money trail beginning with Sachin Waze on the basis of allegations that he had extorted from complainants while working with the Mumbai police. The agency may call lawyer Jaishri Patil to record her statement soon as she is one of the four petitioners in the Bombay high court who had demanded an investigation into the corruption allegations against Deshmukh.
The ED’s PMLA case is based on a corruption FIR registered by the CBI earlier against Deshmukh, based on a letter written by Singh alleging the minister had demanded Rs 100 crore from Waze and some other police officers.
During the search of one of Waze’s seized vehicles, the National Investigation Agency probing the planting of explosives case had found Rs 5 lakh in cash and a currency counting machine. A bar owner had given a statement to NIA and CBI that he had collected Rs 1.5 crore on behalf of bar owners in the western suburbs of the city for Waze. In its earlier investigation in the Television Rating Points (TRP) money laundering case, the ED came across information that Waze had collected Rs 25 lakh as bribe from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) for not harassing its executive in a TRP cheating case he was investigating.
Four petitions had been filed in HC after Param Bir Singh’s letter controversy where he alleged Deshmukh had set a collection target of Rs 100 crore a month. One of the pleas was by advocate Jaishri Patil demanding an investigation by an independent agency. The court directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry. Subsequently, Deshmukh resigned and the CBI has registered a corruption case against him.
NIA has arrested Waze for planting the explosives-laden vehicle near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence and for killing shop owner Mansukh Hiran, whose vehicle he used for planting explosives.
In a statement, Deshmukh said, “This is just political vendetta against me for the crimes that I never committed. It is possible that the Centre might not be very happy with some of the key decisions that I took while serving as the home minister of the state earlier, and thus they are now using the machinery like ED & CBI against me.”