Graft allegations against Kerala officer aimed at defaming ED: Officials

NEw new delhi: The Enforcement board of directors (ED) officials on mon said that the putrefaction allegations levelled against i of its officers in Kerala appears to be an attempt at maligning the agency by a businessman who is under its scanner and has skipped multiple summonses. The Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) last week filed a case in Kochi naming an assistant director-rank officer of the federal financial crimes probe agency, alleging that some private persons demanded money from businessman Aneesh Babu in lieu of settling a money laundering case against him. The matter has created a political controversy in the state as leader of Opposition in the Kerala assembly, V D Satheesan and the ruling CPI(M) alleged widespread corruption in ED and claimed it was being used to target political rivals of the ruling party at the Centre and extort money from honest businessmen. An ED officer, who asked not to be named, said on Monday that “a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case was registered after taking cognisance of five first information reports (FIRs) filed by the Kerala Police Crime Branch and Kottarakara Police (Kollam district) against businessman Aneesh Babu, his father Babu George and his mother Anitha Babu.” “They were charged by police for cheating people to the tune of ₹24.73 crore by promising to import cashews at low prices through the firm Vazhavila Cashews, Kottarakara. The trio were first summoned by the ED Kochi office in October 2021 for questioning, but they failed to appear. We continued our probe and collected bank statements and versions of the complainants. They were then called on October 8 and 28 last year. The family appeared on October 28 but did not return for post-lunch questioning session,” the officer said. “Now, Babu has made baseless allegations before the media against the ED officials, apparently to derail the PMLA investigation against him. The allegation appears to be an attempt to trigger a media trial with an intent to malign the image of the ED and deflect attention from the ongoing money laundering case. He has frequently changed his statements and allegations in the media to prejudice local public opinion,” a second officer said. Babu, this second officer added, has filed various writ petitions and applications for anticipatory bail before the Kerala high court and later before the Supreme Court, all of which have been dismissed. Asserting that he has made contradictory claims before the media on Sunday as he accused an ED officer in the morning but took the name of some other officer in the afternoon, a third officer said: “this shows a clear intent to mislead the public and defame the ED officers”. The agency has sought a copy of the FIR from the VACB to examine the details of the allegations made by Babu. “ED remains committed to upholding the rule of law and welcomes any fair and impartial inquiry and it does not shy away from transparency or accountability. ED maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption and is fully committed to uncovering the truth. All necessary actions will be taken without fear or favour,” said the third officer.