Associates of Chhagan Bhujbal, including drivers and clerks of his Mumbai Education Trust (MET), were made “dummy directors” to launder money, the enforcement directorate (ED) has alleged, calling him the “prime mover in awarding work to M/s K S Chamankar Enterprises, leading to generation of proceeds of crime”.
According to the ED, they scanned the documents and recorded statements of various people that revealed “generation of huge illicit funds and its laundering by the family members and associates of Bhujbal”. Investigations show certain entities/individuals provided payments through cheques against cash to the Bhujbal entities in the guise of dubious real estate deals from 2006.
The ED, in its remand report, stated the directors of the companies promoted by Bhujbals include driver, clerk, and accountant of MET and even accountant’s wife, amongst others.
These people told ED they were only “signatory directors of the said companies and used to sign documents at the behest of their employers – Bhujbals”.
The agency has recorded the statement of one Amit Biraj, a former employee, who is the prime witness in the case. “Biraj disclosed he was witness to huge leather bags containing cash in Indian currency being brought to the ninth floor of MET office and the currency was counted by currency machines and was kept in the cash room of MET office; the denomination of the currency used to be normally of Rs1,000 and that each leather bag used to contain approximately 1 crore, that a few times he heard Sameer Bhujbal instructing his associates about some people bringing cash to MET building.,” stated the report.
{{/usCountry}}The agency has recorded the statement of one Amit Biraj, a former employee, who is the prime witness in the case. “Biraj disclosed he was witness to huge leather bags containing cash in Indian currency being brought to the ninth floor of MET office and the currency was counted by currency machines and was kept in the cash room of MET office; the denomination of the currency used to be normally of Rs1,000 and that each leather bag used to contain approximately 1 crore, that a few times he heard Sameer Bhujbal instructing his associates about some people bringing cash to MET building.,” stated the report.
{{/usCountry}}When asked about the cash transaction in MET, Bhujbal denied it, states the report.
The ED has accused Bhujbal of misusing his official position as a minister in the government.
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