The Enforcement Directorate has recently announced the arrest of Sachin Balasaheb Sawant, a 2008-batch IRS officer serving as an additional commissioner of Customs and GST in Lucknow.
The arrest is connected to a money laundering investigation related to allegations of possessing disproportionate assets worth crores.
The arrest took place on June 27 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The investigation by the ED was initiated based on an FIR registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Mumbai.
It is alleged that Sachin Balasaheb Sawant accumulated assets disproportionate to his known and legal sources of income.
During the ongoing PMLA investigation, it was discovered that unexplained cash deposits totalling around Rs 1.25 crore were made in the personal bank accounts of Sawant’s family members and in the bank account of a dummy company where his father and brother-in-law served as directors.
The agency said in a statement that, “It has been found that immovable property was purchased in the name of said dummy company. The source for the purchase of the said property was shown as personal loans and other bank loans whose repayments were also made in cash.”
Despite the flat being registered under the name of a dummy company, Sachin Sawant was occupying the flat as the actual owner.
The arrest of Sawant by the ED on June 27 was made to ascertain the proceeds of the crime. He was produced before the Special PMLA Court in Mumbai, where the court granted the custody of Sawant to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) until July 5.
Further investigation is currently underway.
