ED to probe Amar Singh?s money laundering

The Allahabad High Court on Friday directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe alleged Rs 500 crore-money laundering by Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh.

Dismissing Singh?s petition challenging a two-year-old FIR lodged in Kanpur on the issue, the court ordered the ED to commence the investigations within two weeks and submit a status report within a month of commencement of the probe.

“Money laundering poses a serious threat to financial system integrity. It may emerge as a parallel economic system within a country controlled by a few. This may destabilise and perish a sound economy,” said a bench comprising Justices Imtiyaz Murtaza and S S Tiwari.

“We are of the firm view that it is a pre-eminently fit case for exercise of extra-ordinary power and the matter needs thorough probe by Special Cell as the matter has national ramifications,” the bench said.

Eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani is representing Singh in the court.

Kanpur resident Shiv Kant Tripathi had lodged an FIR against the former Samajwadi Party general secretary at Babupurwa Police Station in Kanpur on October 15, 2009, accusing him of financial irregularities worth Rs 500 crore.

Tripathi said Singh, who was the then Uttar Pradesh Development Council chairman, invested in fake companies and transferred money to shell companies in Kolkata.

Singh was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Money Laundering Act.