New Delhi, Apr 23 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate Thursday said it has conducted searches at multiple locations in a money laundering case linked to an alleged Rs 145 crore fraud with the fixed deposits of Panchkula Municipal Corporation deposited in a Kotak Mahindra Bank branch in Haryana.

The raids undertaken on Wednesday covered a dozen locations in Chandigarh and Panchkula (Haryana), apart from Zirakpur, Dera Bassi and Rajpura (Patiala district) in Punjab.

The ED case, filed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from an FIR registered in March by the Haryana Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on charges of embezzlement of Panchkula Municipal Corporation's fixed deposits worth Rs 145 crore maintained at the Kotak Mahindra Bank branch at Sector-11 in Panchkula.

The premises of former Kotak Mahindra Bank deputy vice president Pushpender Singh, former customer relationship manager at the said branch Dileep Kumar Raghav, Vikas Kaushik, former senior accounts officer of the municipal corporation and some others were covered during the searches.

The ED said in a statement it seized "incriminating" documents during the raids.

Singh, Raghav and four others were arrested by the Haryana ACB as part of this investigation.

The ED said it found a close "criminal nexus" of the municipal corporation and bank officials along with some private persons who hatched a conspiracy to siphon government funds.

Prima facie investigation finds that Raghav along with Singh, in support of Vikas Kaushik, opened two bank accounts through "forged" and "fake" authorisation documents in the name of the Panchkula Municipal Corporation.

The funds of the corporation available in genuine accounts were transferred to "unauthorised" accounts using forged and fake fund migration authorisation letters in the name of the municipal corporation, the ED said.

Unauthorised email IDs were used by bank officials for seeking authorisation for transaction in response to "fake" and "forged" authorisation letters received in the name of the corporation, the agency said.

It added that the "illegally transferred" funds to unauthorised bank accounts were subsequently transferred to financiers like Rajat Dahra, Swati Tomar, Kapil Kumar and Vinod Kumar.

These funds were "routed back" to Pushpender Singh and his wife Preeti Thakur. Some funds were also transferred to real estate firms and private persons, it alleged.

The municipal corporation was given "forged" fixed deposit receipts by the accused showing an investment in 16 FDs worth Rs 145.03 crore with a maturity value of Rs 158.02 crore, the ED claimed. PTI NES KVK KVK

Money-laundering investigation over forged authorisations and diverted municipal deposits exposes alleged nexus among officials and private persons. Money-laundering searches were conducted in an alleged fraud involving municipal fixed deposits, where funds of the Panchkula Municipal Corporation were said to have been diverted through forged and fake authorisation documents. The investigation concerns unauthorised bank accounts, fake fund-migration letters, and transfer of corporation funds to financiers, private persons and real estate entities, with seized documents and allegations of a criminal nexus among municipal, bank and private persons.