ED records statement of south Indian actress

The Enforcement Directorate has recorded the witness statement of a south Indian actress as part of its money-laundering probe against an IRS officer accused of amassing assets disproportionate to his income. The actress is under investigation for alleged transactions with the accused officer. The agency is also looking into alleged benami assets and irregularities in the officer's finances. Cash deposits of approximately ₹1.25 crore were found in the officer's family members' bank accounts and a dummy company. The officer was arrested in June and his father expressed ignorance about benami companies in his name.

MUMBAI: A south Indian actress’ witness statement has been recorded by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as a part of its money-laundering probe against an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, Sachin Sawant, who is accused of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

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The agency submitted its chargesheet against Sawant recently in a special court. The south Indian movie actress is under the scanner of the agency for certain alleged transactions with the accused officer. The ED had recorded the statement of the actress to verify allegations that the accused officer had conducted a transaction/s with her that were part of the case’s proceeds of crime. The actress’s statement was recorded in Mumbai recently.

The agency wanted to understand the nature of the transactions and therefore took her statement, sources said. The agency had earlier also recorded the witness statement of another female friend of the accused officer in connection with the alleged flow/trail of proceeds of crime in the case, sources said.

During the money-laundering investigation, it was revealed that cash deposits of around ₹1.25 crore were made from unexplained sources in the personal bank accounts of Sawant’s family members and in the bank account of dummy company wherein his father and another relative were directors, according to the ED.

The agency’s money-laundering case against the IRS officer is based on a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s case of June 2022 that was filed against him on charges of allegedly amassing disproportionate assets.

The ED investigated allegations that the accused had amassed huge assets in his name, and those of his family members (his wife and his parents), and incurred huge expenditure, which were disproportionate to their legal sources of income by around ₹2.45 crore.

The sum of ₹2.45 crore was allegedly disproportionate to the tune of 204% of Sawant and his family ‘s known and legal source/s of income during the check period of January 12, 2011, to August 31, 2020.

It was alleged that the assets under the scanner were worth a mere ₹1.42 lakh at the beginning of the check period but escalated to ₹2.07 crore at the end of it, sources said. Further, the income during the check period was allegedly ₹1.2 crore, while the expenditure was to the tune of ₹1.6 crore and the likely savings were around ₹39.87 lakh.

The accused was working as an additional commissioner of Customs in Lucknow and was arrested by the ED in June after the agency carried out searches at his premises, including in Mumbai.

The agency probed alleged transactions related to cash deposits, purchase of land and flow/trail of proceeds of crime in the case and recorded the statements of Sawant’s relatives and other witnesses. The ED had attached a vehicle as a part of its probe in the case.

The accused’s father, when asked about benami companies in his name, had allegedly expressed ignorance about them. The probe also revealed that the wife of the accused, who is a housewife, was shown allegedly to be drawing a salary, sources said.