Chhattisgarh Mining Contractors Paid Huge Kickbacks To Officials: Probe Agency

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday alleged that mining contractors linked to the District Mineral Fund (DMF) in Chhattisgarh paid “huge amounts of illegal gratification” to state officials and political executives in exchange for official work tenders.

The federal agency in a statement said that it carried out searches at 13 locations in the state on March 1 and seized about Rs 27 lakh in cash apart from “incriminating” digital and paper documents.

The money laundering probe into the alleged DMF scam was initiated after studying three FIRs by the Chhattisgarh Police. The FIRs charged the contractors and some others with siphoning off government funds in collusion with state officials and political executives.

“This case is related to corruption in the use of funds from the DMF in Chhattisgarh. The DMF is a trust funded by miners that has been set up in all districts of the state to work for the benefit of those affected by mining-related projects and activities,” the ED said.

The contractors “paid huge amounts of commission/illegal gratification to officials and political executives, which is to the tune of 25-40 per cent of the contract value”, it alleged.

The ED said cash used for “payment of kickbacks” was generated by the vendors using hawala entries.

Quoting an instance, the ED said the DMF allocated to Korba district was over Rs 2,000 crore (till FY 2022-23).

At the prevalent rate, the commission amount in Korba alone would be around Rs 600 crore. Analysis of data for the whole state and quantification of proceeds of crime is underway, the ED said.