ED attaches Rs 120 cr assets of sitting MLA

New Delhi: After veteran NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and his family, another party leader in Maharashtra came under the scanner of ED which on Thursday attached assets worth Rs 120 crore of sitting MLA Ramesh Kadam in a case of alleged embezzelment of over Rs 300 crore in a state-run corporation.

Kadam, a Nationalist Congress Party MLA from the Mohol seat in Solapur, has been the President of the Lokshahir Annabhau Sathe Development Corporation between August, 2012 and December, 2014, during which, the ED alleged he along with other officials of the corporation allegedly misappropriated large amounts.

Kadam, in collusion with the officials of the corporation and other accused persons hatched a conspiracy and misappropriated funds of the corporation which were given to various institutions for their own benefit and thus embezzled an amount to the tune of over Rs 300 crore. While doing this, they cheated and betrayed the corporation and for this purpose they used forged documents as genuine and used the ill-gotten money for their own purposes, the agency said.

The ED registered a criminal complaint against Kadam and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in September last year based on an earlier FIR of the state CID in the said case.

The central probe agency issued a provisional attachment order for seizing a flat, in the name of Kadam and his wife, located in Mumbai's Borivali area, an agricultural land in Aurangabad district, bank balances to the tune of Rs 76.67 lakh and equity shares and a land in the upscale Peddar road area of the western metropolis.

Based on PMLA investigations conducted by the Mumbai zonal office of the ED, the agency said, it is revealed that Kadam and other accused persons have fraudulently acquired and misappropriated huge funds from the corporation meant for the uplift of the Matang community and have laundered these proceeds of crime through fictitious entities created by them for this specific purpose and further integrated the same into movable and immovable properties in their personal and company's name.

The agency said while the value of the seized assets is about Rs 50 crore, their actual value is in excess of Rs 120 crore.