ED may inform Kerala govt about role of its employee and PFI chief in PMLA case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) may soon update the Kerala government about the role of its employee O M Abdul Salam, who is also PFI's chairman, in a money laundering case related to alleged financial links between the Islamic organisation and anti-CAA protests in the country, officials said on Tuesday.


PTI | New Delhi | Updated: 07-07-2020 21:05 IST | Created: 07-07-2020 21:05 IST
ED may inform Kerala govt about role of its employee and PFI chief in PMLA case
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) may soon update the Kerala government about the role of its employee O M Abdul Salam, who is also PFI's chairman, in a money laundering case related to alleged financial links between the Islamic organisation and anti-CAA protests in the country, officials said on Tuesday. The central probe agency had recorded the statement of Salam, a senior Assistant in Kerala State Electricity Board, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in February.

Salam was then the vice chairman of PFI, officials said. He is stated to be posted at the regional audit office of the electricity board in Manjeri town of Kerala's Malappuram district.

Sources said the agency may soon inform the Kerala government about his role in PFI activities and the evidences gathered by it on the basis of his statement and that of others being probed as part of this case. PFI did not respond to PTI's query on Salam holding the post in the private organisation despite being an employee of the Kerala state government.

The government concerned needs to be informed about the role of any of its employees who are being probed in a criminal case, the sources said. They, however, did not divulge if they had any incriminating evidence against Salam.

When Salam was first summoned by the ED early this year, he informed the agency that he is working with the electricity board and sought some adjournments for his appearance on the grounds of completing some work "assigned" to him by the department, officials said. Salam later joined the questioning after he was asked by the ED to depose without fail as it was important to record his statement to take the probe forward, they said.

The federal probe agency, which is investigating the PFI under PMLA since 2018, has found that at least Rs 1.04 crore were deposited in several bank accounts linked to the organisation between December 4 last year and January 6 in various parts of the country. The sources said a total amount of Rs 120 crore, credited to bank accounts linked to the PFI, are under the ED's scanner.

"The Popular Front of India has stated it multiple times that we fully comply with the law of the land and the allegation of Rs 120 crore transferred from the Popular Front's accounts just before the CAA protests is totally baseless and the people who are levelling these allegations should prove these claims," the organisation had earlier said in a statement. The PFI was formed in 2006 in Kerala as a successor to the National Democratic Front (NDF).

The ED is also probing remittances and withdrawal of funds from nine bank accounts of another organisation called Rehab India, officials said, apart from a deposit of Rs 20 lakh from Dubai in its accounts. It is also investigating PFI's links to the Delhi riots after it booked suspended Aam Admi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain and others in a separate money laundering case.  On Tuesday, Kerala IT Secretary M Sivasankar was removed as secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the backdrop of a gold smuggling controversy, where the role of a former woman employee of the IT department is being probed.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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