BENGALURU: CM Siddaramaiah, his wife BM Parvathy, brother-in-law Mallikarjun Swamy, land owner Devaraju and some top officials of MUDA have been named in the ED investigation into a Rs 56 crore land allotment scam.
The provisional attachment order (PAO) issued by the ED on January 17 for 142 sites, mostly belonging to real estate agents, indicts the CM and others as “public servants and private individuals, who colluded with dishonest intention and conspiracy to illegally obtain sites from MUDA in the guise of compensation for land acquisition by MUDA by representing false facts, forgery, cheating and use of undue influence”.
The ED in September last year registered an Enforcement Case Information Report against Siddaramaiah, Parvathy and others in the MUDA case under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, based on an FIR by Lokayukta police.
Modus operandi was to make illegal allotments to ineligible persons who are front/dummy: ED
As per the ED, the investigation undertaken in the ECIR has so far revealed that the 14 sites (gifted to Parvathy by her brother Mallikarjun Swamy) were “illegally allotted under influence to Parvathy in collusion with officers/officials of MUDA. These 14 sites were returned by her subsequent to initiation of investigation under PMLA, 2002. The illegal allotment of sites is not a single occurrence.
There is a deep-rooted nexus between MUDA officers/officials and real estate businessmen/influential persons. Large number of illegal allotments were made by MUDA officers/officials against cash, immovable properties, vehicles etc.
The modus operandi followed was to make illegal allotments to ineligible persons who are front/dummy. These sites were subsequently projected as untainted, that is, having been obtained as compensation for land acquired by MUDA,” the ED wrote in the PAO report.
On the “illegal allotment” in the case of Parvathy, the ED stated that the “preliminary notification for acquisition of 3 acres 16 guntas land at Survey No 464 of Kesare village was issued vide notification dated 18.9.1992 and final notification was issued on 20.8.1997.
The landowner as per both the notifications was Ninga alias Jawra, who had passed away… The denotification process was not based on any reasoning or deliberation or analysis of records. Siddaramaiah was the MLA from Chamundeshwari constituency and as such he was member of the board of MUDA though he did not attend the meeting discussing the denotification. He was also the DCM during the period denotification was undertaken”.
“Investigation revealed that approximately 1,095 MUDA sites (plots) have been illegally allotted,” said the ED.
The ED has claimed that “sites were allocated in the name of persons who were not actual land owners/losers, in contravention of statutory provisions laid down in the Karnataka Urban Development Authorities Act, 1987, Karnataka Urban Development Authorities (allotment of sites in lieu of compensation for the land acquired) Rules, 2009 (as amended from time to time) and Karnataka Development Authorities Act (incentive scheme for voluntary surrender of land) Rules, 1991”.
The agency added that the alleged “proceeds of crime were generated through illegal allotment of sites through contravention of statutory provisions, that is, illegal allotment as compensation for land acquisition by MUDA and also as incentive for voluntary surrender of land.
These illegally allotted sites (proceeds of crime) were further projected as untainted properties, that is having received from MUDA as compensation and incentive. Such proceeds of crime were further transferred through general power of attorney, settlement deeds, sale deeds without payment of consideration etc to obfuscate the true nature of their origin to frustrate proceedings under PMLA”.