Army chief Gen VK Singh trashes Adarsh report

03 May 2012, 7:23PM IST| Duration: 03:14

Adarsh Housing Society Enforcement Directorate finds involvement of former Maharashtra CM Kanhaiyalal Gidwani in Adarsh scam Mail Today Bureau Mumbai, Saturday, May 5, 2012 | 08:45 IST
If the Centre wants information about black money, they need not go far. They could well start with Adarsh, feel investigators probing the multi-crore housing society scam. They claim to have unearthed unaccounted transactions worth crores that have been paid in order to purchase flats in the 31-storey housing society.
For starters, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had registered a case of money laundering against 13 people on March 5, has found the involvement of another former Maharashtra chief minister, who has two benami flats in Adarsh.
The politician in question was a chief minister prior to 1990. Investigators claim this politician has two flats, one of which is on the 26th floor of Adarsh. The flats have been brought through a third party. These two were part of the four mystery flats whose real ownership the investigators were trying to ascertain for some time now.
The other two flats in question are located on the 15th floor and were meant for another former chief minister as a favour for clearing the Adarsh file. The flats are in the name of Amol Kharbhari and Kiran Bhadange and money for these flats came from Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, who gave loans of Rs 55 lakh to each of them. But before the flats could be handed over to the former CM, the Adarsh scam broke out and the transaction could not take place.
What's interesting is that Kharbhari managed to get a loan from Gidwani even though he didn't have a PAN card nor did he manage to furnish income-tax proof for the past three years. They are also probing how a former collector and MP managed to buy a flat despite claiming his income to be Rs 12,000. Incidentally, as an MP, his allowances would be more than Rs 25,000 per month. They also claim to have found evidence that a part of the payment for a flat that was in the name of a relative of former chief minister Ashok Chavan, was not made by the Congress leader, but by another member of Adarsh society, as a favour for him being allotted a flat. Chavan was also Chavan was also alleged to have received Rs 65 lakh from former joint commissioner of traffic, Sanjay Barve, towards payment of a flat which is in the name of the former's motherin-law. Barve, in return, got a flat for his father.
It's not just politicians. Investigators claim a number of bureaucrats are also under the scanner. They are astounded as to the number of bureaucrats' children, who despite claiming their salary to be Rs 12,000, still managed to purchase flats worth Rs 65 lakh and above in Adarsh. The ED is now issuing summons to the owners, asking them to provide payment details while buying the flats and also give supporting documents.
"There are several owners, who by their financial standing, could not have managed to purchase the flats. These are the people who are under suspicion," an officer said.
Enforcement Directorate finds involvement of former Maharashtra CM Kanhaiyalal Gidwani in Adarsh scam