Government nod needed for attachment of property of retired babus

NEW DELHI: Government today told Parliament that prosecution agencies will have to obtain authorisation from it before attachment of properties of corrupt retired public servants.

"An official memorandum dated May 13, 2009 was issued laying down procedure for obtaining authorisation of the central government under section 3 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 1944 for attachment of the money or property procured by corrupt means.

"Further, clarifications were issued vide office memorandum dated January 19, 2012 clarifying that authorisation would also be required in the case of retired public servants for attachment of money or property procured by means of scheduled offences," Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy told Lok Sabha in a written reply today.

While replying to another question on action against government servants, the Minister said Enforcement Directorate (ED) has "attached properties valued at Rs 368.88 crore approximately, till 2011, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act where scheduled offences of Prevention of Corruption Act were involved."

"So far as the CBI is concerned, the authorisation for attachment of properties in respect of 20 officials in twenty cases have been received from various ministries/departments of the government during the last three years, 2009-February 2012," he said.