The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday made damning revelations in the case of multi-city raids in Chhattisgarh in a money laundering case. The ED termed the illegal coal levy collection “cartel” as a “massive scam” and alleged that that the “proceeds of crime” was also “used by or on behalf of political executives of the State.”
The State Government arbitrarily tweaked the norms for issuance of e-permits for transporting coal and as many as 30,000 NOCs were issued in just three months since July 15 to favour the transporters and sustain the cartel of illegal levy of around `1-2 crore daily.
“The kingpin of the scam Suryakant Tiwari and his associates entered into a criminal conspiracy to run a parallel system of extorting illegal levy on coal and were doing illegal and unaccounted cash movement. The proceeds of crime were being used for investing in benami assets, bribing officials to influence senior officers and also used by or on behalf of political executives of the State,” the agency said.
The ED seized unaccounted cash amounting to `4.5 crore, gold jewellery, bullion and other valuables worth around `2 crore approximately. `1.5 crore cash found with suspect Laxmikant Tiwari was seized.
He has admitted that he handled `1-2 crore of the extorted money on a daily basis. Sameer Vishnoi, IAS officer of 2009 batch, and his wife and Raigarh collector Ranu Sahu were found to be in possession of `47 lakh of unaccounted cash and four kg gold jewellery worth `2 crore.
The ED investigation revealed that the extortion of illegal coal levy became “rampant” when the Director, Geology and Mining Department, issued a notification on July 15, 2020, modifying the earlier online process of e-permit for transporting the coals from mines to users into issuance of manual NOC. No SOP or procedure was circulated in this regard.
“The new notification forced the mining companies to apply to the Mining officer/ DDM for NOC for issuance of e-permit. Without NOC, the e-permit for transportation of the coal cannot be issued by the Mining Officer leading to the non-execution of CDO (Coal Delivery Order issued by the Mining Company after auction).
“If CDO is not executed within 45 days, it lapses and EMD paid by the buyer at the rate of `500 per tonne is forfeited by the Mining Company. Thus, it is the buyer of the Coal (normally Steel Plants/Captive Power Plant Owners) whose supply of coal is disrupted and their EMD is forfeited, if NOC is delayed or denied,” the ED said.
The ED Survey also revealed that no prudent documentation system was in place at the Mining Department and many columns were left blank. At many places in the licence form, signatures were missing. In the files, note sheets were missing. Namesake enquiries were conducted and NOCs were issued at the whims and fancy of the Collector/DMO (District Mining Officers).
“More than 30,000 NOCs have been issued since 15.7.22, without any SOP. Inward and outward registers were not maintained. There is no clarity on the role of the officers. Many of the details like Transporter’s Name, Company’s Name etc are left blank,” the agency said in its statement.
The ED had conducted search operations and made arrests under Prevention of Money Laundering Act relating to the scam in which illegal levy of `25 per tonne was being extorted from every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen.
The ED initiated a money laundering investigation based on the FIR lodged by the Income Tax Department against this conspiracy for the illegal extortion and for destruction of evidence.
The ED is investigating the entire gamut of this conspiracy including the main kingpin, the role of senior officials who facilitated this scam with impunity and the beneficiaries of the illegal proceeds of crime.
On October 11, the ED conducted simultaneous searches at multiple locations in Chhattisgarh and seized incriminating evidence and unaccounted cash and jewellery from various suspects.
While the kingpin of the scam Suryakant Tiwari is absconding, IAS officer and Raigarh Collector Ranu Sahu was also found to be missing from her official residence.
Coal Delivery order (CDO) is issued in favour of the buyer by the mining company and the buyers are required to deposit an EMD of Rs. 500 per metric tonnes with the mining company and are also required to lift the coal within 45 days.
The cartel led by Suryakant Tiwari with the assistance of senior officers created a network of extortion, by which each buyer/transporter of Coal had to first pay Rs 25 per tonne before getting the NOC from the DM’s office. They kept men who would collect and move money and share the exploits between the kingpins, workers, Senior IAS/IPS officers and politicians. It is estimated that around Rs 2-3 crore was generated on a daily basis, according to the agency.
Suspect Sunil Kumar Agrawal of Indramani Group, a big coal businessman was found to be involved in this racket and is seen as a major business partner of Suryakant Tiwari, it alleged.