Ex-NALCO CMD's gold bars, biscuits seized under laundering laws

NEW DELHI: A special anti-money laundering court here has ordered attachment of over Rs 2 crore gold bars, bangles, coins and biscuits recovered from former NALCO CMD A K Srivastava in connection with a bribery and generation of illegal criminal assets case against him and others.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had attached these assets in May this year after it registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the former CMD who was arrested by the CBI in this bribery case in 2011.

The seized valuables, in the name of Srivastava, his wife Chandini and alleged middlemen B L Bajaj and his wife Anita, includes ten gold bars, four gold coins, a mini gold biscuit and cash of Rs 9.5 lakh kept in various bank lockers in Delhi.

The total value of all gold valuables, without the cash, is over Rs 2.13 crore.

The court, acting upon the ED complaint in this case, found these assets to be "proceeds of crime" created in connivance between Srivastava and these associates.

"...the defendants (Srivastava and others) have committed the scheduled offences, generated proceeds of crime and laundered them. No doubt, the properties attached are proceeds of crime or value thereof and are involved in money laundering," the court of Adjudicating Authority of PMLA (Member) Mukesh Kumar said in its latest order.

The court acts as the judicial body to decide on cases of enforcement action and an attachment proceeding under PMLA is aimed to deprive the accused from getting benefit of his or her illegally acquired wealth.

The former CMD of this large PSU of the country was arrested by CBI in February 2011 and it was alleged by the agency that Srivastava was extending illegal benefits and abusing his official position in lieu of bribe money given by a Madhya Pradesh based industry group to secure lucrative contracts offered by NALCO.

The CBI had chargesheeted Srivastava under penal provisions of the IPC dealing with criminal conspiracy, forgery and using forged documents as genuine and impersonation.

The money laundering probe by the ED found that "criminal activity committed by Srivastava resulted into the generation of illegal acquisition of funds."

The ED probe found these "illicit funds" were collected by Bajaj and kept in the form of gold items and Indian currency in a bank locker in Delhi opened in the name of Bajaj's wife Anita but operated by Srivastava's wife Chandini by "impersonating" as the former lady (Anita Bajaj) to hide the illegal act.