ED Files Prosecution Complaint In MNREGA Funds Misappropriation Case

(MENAFN- IANS) Lucknow, Sep 17 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a Prosecution Complaint (PC) against former Uttar Pradesh government officials Bhagwati Prashad Verma and Athar Parvez in connection with alleged misappropriation of MNREGA funds, the agency said on Wednesday.

The ED's Allahabad Sub-Zonal Office filed the complaint under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, before the Special Court (PMLA), Lucknow, on April 24, and the court took cognisance of the case on September 9.

According to the ED, its probe was based on an FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the CBI in Lucknow under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The case relates to alleged abuse of official position, criminal conspiracy, and diversion of MNREGA funds in seven districts - Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Sant Kabir Nagar, Mirzapur, and Kushinagar - between 2007 and 2010, the agency said in its press statement.

The ED alleged that Verma, then Project Director of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) and Additional District Programme Coordinator of MNREGS, along with Parvez, colluded with other officials and private suppliers to facilitate procurement of materials such as "job cards, complaint boxes, registers, generators, tents, first-aid kits, water tanks, signboards, and printing material at highly inflated rates".

The purchases were allegedly routed through two firms-Sanyukt Samiti Panchayat Udyog, Chinhat, Lucknow, and Panchayat Udyog, Jhanjhari, Gonda-resulting in "significant pecuniary loss" to the government exchequer, the agency said.

The probe further established the generation and layering of proceeds of crime.

As part of the investigation, the ED provisionally attached nine immovable properties, including residential buildings, agricultural lands, and commercial as well as residential plots worth Rs 97.18 lakh, located in Lakhimpur and Kanpur districts.

The attachment was made under a Provisional Attachment Order dated November 29, 2023.

The filing of the prosecution complaint marks a significant step in its efforts to ensure accountability in cases of corruption and financial irregularities involving public welfare schemes.

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