ED attaches Rs 70 lakh assets of ex-Karnataka officer

Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth Rs 70 lakh in connection with its money laundering probe against a retired Karnataka government officer, who has been charged in a case of disproportionate assets. The agency issued a provisional order in this regard here attaching residential building, agricultural land and savings in bank and post office against one Chandrashekar Kakkeri, who retired as an Assistant Executive Engineer in the Karnataka Irrigation Corporation Limited in Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) district. The value of the seized assets, under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is Rs 70 lakh, the agency said. ED registered a case against the officer based on an earlier FIR of the Karnataka Lokayukta police which charged him for possessing disproportionate assets worth Rs 71.51 lakh and also filed a charge sheet against him in February last year under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, it said. "During investigations, it was noticed that the flow of illegal money generated from the said offence has gone to the said properties and hence they were attached," it said. An attachment under PMLA laws is aimed to deprive the accused from taking benefits of their ill-gotten wealth and such an order issued by the ED can be appealed before the Adjudicating Authority of the said Act within 180 days.