The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted searches under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 at nine locations in Aurangabad, Pune, and Akola, Maharashtra, in connection with a money laundering investigation into irregularities in the tender allocation of the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana (PMAY) scheme in Aurangabad.
The ED launched an investigation based on an FIR filed by the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation against M/s Samarath Construction & JV, Indo Global Infrastructure Services, Jaguar Global Services, and their respective partners for forgery and formation of a cartel in order to illegally win the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation’s tender for the construction of 40000 PMAY houses in Aurangabad. The PMAY plan was to be implemented in Aurangabad on seven plots or sites. It was discovered that all three e-tenders were uploaded from the same IP address. The FIR was filed when PMAY officials discovered that the winning business was not financially competent of carrying out such a large project.
According to the ED investigation, the three JV entities filed for the e-tender from the same IP address. The tender was awarded to one M/s Samarath Construction & JV, however, they only deposited Rs 88.60 lacs of the performance bank guarantee of Rs 46.24 crore. In addition, Samarath Construction & JV violated the law by obtaining an extension of the first offer for 19.22 hectares to 120 hectares without conducting a new tender process. The amount of government subsidies involved in this fraud is around Rs 1000 Crore.
The three tender candidates were investigated. It was found that in the case of the two losing e-tender applicants, the main JV partners have fully denied their involvement in the tender process and are accusing the L1 applicant of falsification of their credentials. The ED recovered many damning papers from the petitioner, including the note sheet of the Aurangabad Municipality’s tender file. Aurangabad Municipal Corporation officials are extending their assistance and disclosing all papers related to this tender procedure. Further research is being conducted.
