The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out raids in four cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad over alleged money laundering, in a case linked to Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

The raids over alleged corruption in the STP resulted in a cash seizure of Rs 41 lakh along with incriminating documents and digital evidence, officials said.

The scam pertains to irregularities in the DJB, over augmentation and upgradation of 10 sewage treatment plants (STPs) namely Pappankala, Nilothi, Najafgarh, Keshopur, Coronation Pillar, Narela, Rohini and Kondli.

According to ED officials, the costs adopted by DJB for upgradation and augmentation were treated at par, though the cost of upgradation is usually lesser than the cost for augmentation.

The ED searches were carried out on the basis of FIR lodged against a private company M/s Euroteck Environmental Pvt Ltd for conspiring to secure tender at inflated rates.

According to the ED statement, the four tenders valued at Rs 1943 crore were given to various Joint Venture (JV) entities in October 2022. Three JVs participated in four STP tenders mutually to ensure that each one got the tender.

ED investigation found that four tenders related to STPs valued at Rs 1,943 crore were awarded by DJB to three JVs at inflated rates, causing substantive loss to the exchequer.

Moreover, the three JVs were found to have submitted the same experience certificate issued from a Taiwan Project to DJB for securing the tenders and the same was accepted without any verification. All three JVs then subcontracted the work to Hyderabad-based firm M/s Euroteck Environment Pvt Ltd.

Also, the tender documents showed that the initial cost of the four tenders which stood at Rs 1,546 crore was revised to Rs 1943 crore without following due process.

(This article has been published via a syndicated feed)