ED attaches properties worth Rs 22.78 crore in Punjab foodgrain tenders scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached properties worth Rs 22.78 crore in the alleged money-laundering case related to the food grain tenders scam in Punjab’s food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department.

Former Congress minister and Ludhiana West ex-MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu is among the accused arrested by the ED on August 1 in connection with the case.

The properties attached belong to persons involved in money-laundering, and include immovable properties situated at Ludhiana, Mohali, Khanna and other parts of Punjab and movable properties in the form of FDRs, gold jewellery and bank accounts.

The ED had initiated an investigation on the basis of various FIRs registered by the Vigilance Bureau, Punjab, under various sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act related to the ‘tender scam’ in the Department of Food and Civil Supplies of Punjab.

The probe by the agency revealed that the then food and civil supplies minister Ashu allegedly favoured select contractors in allotment of tenders and had promised higher profits to them, thereby collecting bribe from them through Rajdeep Singh Nagra, Rakesh Kumar Singla and other persons including a few government officers of the Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Department.

The bribe money was further laundered to purchase movable and immovable properties using network of shell entities, the agency's probe revealed.