Assam: Fraudulent award of contracts worth Rs 118 crore; ED conducts searches and sizes documents

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Guwahati Zonal Office, has conducted search operations under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in the case of the fraudulent award of contracts worth Rs 118 crore during 2013-2016 by Assam Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Board (ABOCWWB) to M/s Purbashree Printing House [a proprietorship concern of Priyanshu Boiragi]. This case involves the misappropriation of money collected as cess for the welfare of construction workers.

During searches, the ED sleuths seized various incriminating documents and materials. In this case, ED has also attached proceeds of crime totalling Rs. 34.03 crore in the form of balances in bank accounts and fixed deposits.

ED initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Chief Minister's Special Vigilance Cell P.S., Assam, and charge sheets filed by police under sections of IPC, 1860, and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against Chohan Doley, IAS, the then Labour Commissioner-Member Secretary of ABOCWWB; Priyanshu Boiragi, proprietor of M/s Purbashree Printing House, Gautam Baruwa, the then Chairman, ABOCWWB; and Nagendra Nath Choudhury, the then Administrative Officer, ABOCWWB, who managed to get unreasonably high-value printing contracts from ABOCWWB with the help of the forged and fraudulent tendering process.

The ED investigation revealed that Priyanshu Boiragi had invested the Proceeds of Crime (POC) of Rs. 118 crore, generated out of government funds, into FDRs in his name and routed the balance POC to various other bank accounts connected to him and to various shell entities, thus creating a maze of transactions to avoid detection of POC.

Further investigation is in progress.

 Also read: Assam: Two bank officials of Assam Gramin Vikash Bank suspended for money laundering case in Jorhat district (sentinelassam.com)

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