ED gets nod to seize Virbhadra, kin assets

New Delhi, October 2 

The Enforcement Directorate would soon move to take possession of assets worth about Rs 8 crore of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh after a special anti-money laundering court here confirmed the agency’s related provisional order.

The agency had in March ordered attachment of certain LIC policies, bank balances, a fixed deposit and two floors of a building in south Delhi’s posh GK-I area under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

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“I find that the properties provisionally attached in the name of D-2 (Pratibha Singh) and D-1 (Virbhadra Singh) are involved in money laundering...  I, therefore, order that the said attachment shall continue during the pendency of the proceedings relating to the offence under the PMLA before a court and become final after an order of confiscation is passed by the special court,” an order issued on September 14 by Tushar V Shah, Member (Law) of the adjudicating authority of PMLA, said.

The provisional order for attachment of assets worth over Rs 7.93 crore was issued by the ED on March 23, where it attached an entire basement and ground floor of a building in Greater Kailash-I in the name of Pratibha Singh and a number of LIC policies, bank balances and a fixed deposit in her name and those in the name of her husband.

The ED said “it is evident from the flow of funds from redemption of LIC policies to the bank accounts and finally for the purchase of property, that Virbhadra and Pratibha had indulged in possession of proceeds of crime in cash and in order to launder it showed it as its income from agriculture”.

The agency had recently questioned Pratibha and her Vikramaditya. The CM has denied any wrongdoing. — PTI