The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday questioned Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal’s son Pankaj for over eight hours in connection with the money-laundering cases registered against him and his cousin Sameer.
Pankaj and Sameer were booked last year by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the ED went on to arrest Sameer earlier this year. The ED had subsequently seized Sameer and Pankaj’s passports. It also summoned Pankaj for questioning.
Pankaj reached the ED office at around 11 am on Tuesday, accompanied by a group of his supporters, amidst tight police deployment around the office.
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ED sources said a detailed statement was recorded from Pankaj in connection with several aspects of the case. “He was questioned about the trail of money, involvement of people in the companies owned by the family and several new facts that came to light during Sameer’s questioning. A lot of claims that Sameer had made in his interrogation were also crosschecked with Pankaj,” said an officer.
The ED is currently trying to establish a clear trail of money, as the money that the Bhujbals allegedly received in kickbacks was passed through a large number of companies, and several transactions were shown as loans in the company records. The rest of the money was used for transactions such as purchasing land for construction projects. Sameer and Pankaj are directors of two companies that seem to be heavily involved in the alleged financial misconduct – Devisha Infrastructure and Parvesh Constructions, and several other employees of these companies are also under the scanner, said officials.
Pankaj left the ED office around 7 pm on Tuesday.
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“I am cooperating in the investigation,” he said as he was leaving.