BENGALURU: Senior Congress leader and PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi “has acquired nearly 40 percent stakes in ‘Magnitude Star SARL, Congo, which is into gold mining.
Besides, his daughter and MP, Chikkodi, Priyanka, his son Rahul and sister Mahadevi Manjunath who is wife of Joint Commissioner, State Excise, YD Manjunath, have acquired shareholding in multiple foreign entities such as Eldorado Mining Resources, Congo, Nava Aurum Mining Ltd, Zambia etc,” charged the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in an official release on Friday, a day after it concluded its two-day search on premises linked to Jarkiholi, his kin and some of his associates.
“Documents of various other foreign entities owning mining assets in Africa were also found and seized.
The searches also revealed evidences related to irregularities in the PWD and several incriminating materials/documents including digital devices related to collection of bribe money from contractors like Bharat Vanijya Eastern Pvt Ltd (BVEPL) etc in the entities and accounts of various influential persons including in the accounts of entity controlled and managed by Manjunath,” charged ED.
Rs 3.3 crore unaccounted cash seized, says ED
The searches were conducted in Bengaluru, Belagavi, Gokak, and Kolkata. During the course of these simultaneous search operations, including at the minister’s residences in Gokak, Dollars Colony and his office-cum-residence on Crescent Road in Bengaluru, alongside properties in Gokak and Belagavi, ED authorities are said to have made significant recoveries under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA.) “As a result of the search conducted, they seized around Rs 3.3 crore unaccounted cash, and USD, EURO etc worth around Rs 15 lakh,” stated the central agency.
ED also searched officials of BVEPL over allegations that the company had paid a huge bribe in lieu of getting a tender from PWD that was allegedly used for acquiring foreign assets. The office and residences of owners of BVEPL were covered during the search.