Adarsh: ED registers PMLA case against Ashok Chavan, 13 others

MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and 13 others have been slapped with a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) for their alleged involvement in the Adarsh housing scam.

"An ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) has been registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on March 5 against 14 persons. The 14 persons are the same who have been named as accused by CBI in their FIR," senior counsel R V Desai appearing for ED told the Bombay High Court today.

A division bench of Justices S A Bobade and Mridula Bhatkar were hearing a bunch of petitions filed by social activists Pravin Wategaonkar and Simpreet Singh seeking ED to register case and for High Court to supervise the investigations of CBI and ED.

"The accused persons got clearances to construct Adarsh illegally and obtained flats at a very low price compared to market value. The accused projected tainted property as untainted. Prima facie it constitutes offence under section 3 of PMLA," the ECIR states.

The High Court took the ED to task for the way it has dealt with the case.

"In December last year the court had asked ED to make a statement on applicability on provisions of PMLA. But even today the agency is not able to make a conclusive statement on PMLA," Justice Bobade said.

"You (ED) say investigation has been initiated with registration of ECIR. So you must be having some material before you at this stage. On the basis of that material you should be able to make statement on when you will register an FIR in the case and when you will arrest the accused persons," the bench said.