ED begins the process of attaching kingpins’ property in Srijan Scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has begun the process of serving notices, sealing, attaching, and confiscating the property of Srijan scam accused pair Amit Kumar and Rajni Priya in Bhagalpur.

Amit is the son of the late Manorama Devi, who established the Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti (SMVSS), which reportedly syphoned off government funds for years.

The sealing of immovable property is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the 2002 Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

On Thursday, an ED team led by assistant director Santosh Kumar Mandal began sealing and attaching the property of two kingpins of the Srijan scam in the city areas and Sabour block on the orders of the CBI’s special court.

The ED has so far identified at least ten immovable properties worth many crores, including a residential house, flats in a multistory complex, commercial establishments, unoccupied land or plot. The accused persons or their representatives were also forbidden by ED officials from selling or gifting these properties to anyone.

SMVSS, a co-operative organisation created in early 1990 by late Manorama Devi and registered under the Bihar and Orissa Cooperative Societies Act of 1935, is under CBI investigation after a scam involving government money was revealed.

Between 2004 and 2014, large sums of government monies were fraudulently moved into SMVSS accounts.

In collusion with some district officials, bankers, and SMVSS employees, the SMVSS allegedly stole government monies intended for different welfare projects from the Bhagalpur district administration’s accounts and transferred them to its bank account.

Nearly Rs 2,400 crore is suspected to have been fraudulently moved from several district project funds to SMVSS bank accounts. In the first week of August 2017, CM Nitish Kumar constituted a special investigation team (SIT) of the Economic Offenses Unit (EOU) and ordered a probe into the scam, which culminated in the filing of 22 FIRs against the scammers, including SMVSS managing committee members. The SIT then made several arrests before handing over the case to the CBI for investigation.

During the course of the inquiry, it was discovered that SMVSS fraudulently obtained cheque books from banks and utilised fake signatures of district magistrates to issue cheques in its favour in order to transfer large sums of money to its account.

According to sources, the CBI has been gathering information regarding the SMVSS and its bank accounts since its founding in the early 1990s.

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