Sharad Pawar's Party Leader Summoned By Enforcement Directorate Tomorrow

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Jayant Patil has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in a money laundering case.

The Maharashtra unit president of the NCP has been sent a notice in a money laundering case involving the now bankrupt Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS). Mr Patil has been asked to present himself before the probe agency for questioning tomorrow.

The probe agency earlier questioned Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray in the case of a loan given to Kohinoor Construction, the firm that is developing the Kohinoor Square tower in Mumbai's Dadar.

The summons to the NCP leader comes after the ED conducted searches against two former auditors of IL&FS - BSR and Associates, an Indian affiliate of accounting firm KPMG, and Deloitte Haskins and Sells. The probe agency has alleged financial irregularities at IL&FS.

The probe agency's action against the former auditors of IL&FS came after the Supreme Court had set aside a verdict of the Bombay High Court that had quashed a probe against the two firms.

Some of the employees of the two auditors were also questioned by the officials during the searches and some documents were also seized.

The money laundering investigation into alleged financial irregularities at IL&FS was launched by the ED in 2019, after taking cognisance of a First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing against a group of companies of IL&FS.

The probe agency has alleged that the senior management of IL&FS was a party to acts of commissions and omissions, leading to illegal personal gains to them at the expense of the company.

Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited filed for bankruptcy in 2018.