A huge team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is also probing the chit fund scam, would reach the State soon to investigate into the high-profile money laundering cases which have taken place in the State during last few years, reliable sources said on Friday.
The sources said the ED team might focus on some high-profile people who made huge transactions through hard cash. It would interrogate several influential persons, including political heavyweights, who aided and abetted chit fund operators in money laundering.Some prominent persons have invested the money received from chit fund firm owners at different foreign agencies and a few of them have given money to underworld people to spread business in Gulf countries. All these things would be probed by the ED, informed the sources.
The sources alleged that the State Government’s cooperation with the ED so far have been far from satisfactory as the latter has evaded sharing documents.Meanwhile, Alok Jena, Supreme Court petitioner in the chit fund scam, along with his associate RTI activist Jayanta Kumar Das and lawyer Satyabrata Pradhan met ED Special Director Yogesh Gupta, who is on a Odisha visit, at around 4.30 pm on Friday to submit information on the money trail in the scam.
During their hour-long meeting, Jena discussed about several confidential things related to the chit fund scam and shared important documents and evidences regarding the money laundering in the State.Notably, Jena and Das had recently met ED chief Ranjan Katoch in New Delhi and discussed with him about the need for a thorough investigation into the money laundering angle in the scam.