Manipur: ED seizes properties worth Rs 1.99 crore in PMLA case against ex-Customs inspector

New Delhi/Imphal, Aug 12 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 1.99 crore in Manipur in a money laundering case involving Seikholen Kipgen, a former Inspector of Customs and Central Excise, and others, the central probe agency said on Wednesday.

The ED, Imphal Sub-Zonal Office, has provisionally attached two immovable properties, being homestead lands along with the residential buildings constructed thereon, situated in Kangpokpi and Imphal East districts of Manipur, having a total value of Rs 1.99 crore (approximately) under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, in the case of Seikholen Kipgen, then Inspector, Customs and Central Excise, and others.

The ED initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), Imphal, against Seikholen Kipgen under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, an ED statement said.

The process was initiated on allegations of possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The CBI, ACB, Imphal also filed a charge sheet on December 22, 2022, before the competent special court in respect of the scheduled offence. The ED investigation revealed that during the check period from January 1, 2015, to December 3, 2021, the assets of Seikholen Kipgen and his family members increased substantially and were found to be disproportionate to his known sources of income to the tune of Rs 1.99 crore (approximately).

The statement said that it was also revealed that unaccounted funds earned from illegitimate sources were kept by Seikholen Kipgen with his father-in-law for safe custody, who deposited the said funds into his bank account and subsequently transferred the same to Seikholen Kipgen, his wife or third parties, or made payments directly to vendors on his instructions.

The agency said that the said funds, so layered and routed, were utilised for the purchase of land in the name of his wife and the construction of the residential building thereon, and were projected as untainted money in the guise of a gift from the father-in-law, who was prima facie a mere conduit having no independent financial capacity to make such a gift.

The ED investigation further revealed that illicit/unaccounted funds constituting Proceeds of Crime were utilised for the acquisition and/or construction of immovable properties, one of which is held in the name of Seikholen Kipgen and the other in the name of his wife, Vahneithem Lucy Kipgen.

Accordingly, the properties have been provisionally attached as representing the value of Proceeds of Crime under the PMLA, 2002. Further investigation is underway.

–IANS

sc/uk