Balaji's kin played key role in layering crime proceeds: ED

New Delhi, August 14

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today said Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji’s brother and two other family members played “pivotal roles” in layering and integrating the proceeds of crime in the case under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against him.

In an official statement, the ED said there were “false” news reports appearing in local dailies and social media about the detention or arrest of the minister’s brother RV Ashok Kumar from Kochi. “It is clarified that Kumar has neither been detained nor arrested,” it said.

The ED informed that at least four summons each had been sent to Kumar, his wife Nirmala and mother-in-law P Lakshmi in the past, but they did not appear before the agency.

Balaji was arrested by the ED for alleged money laundering in a cash-for-jobs scam.

The agency added that Kumar had been summoned on four occasions, but he “never joined the investigation and has refused to appear before the ED in response to the summonses citing frivolous inconsequential excuses”. In a similar manner, it said, his wife Nirmala and mother-in-law P Lakshmi have also “not complied” with four individual summons. “It is significant to note that evidence indicates that all three individuals have played pivotal roles in layering and integrating the proceeds of crimes,” it alleged.