New Delhi, Nov 6 The Enforcement Directorate on Friday alleged that former Punjab minister and Congress leader Sunder Sham Arora extended undue favours to private real estate players in the transfer of high-value industrial plots of the Punjab Small Industries Export Corporation (PSIEC).
The agency further alleged that Arora, 68, who served as Punjab’s commerce and industries minister, acquired stakes in real estate entities in the name of his son, Parteek Arora.
The central probe agency had conducted searches against Arora on November 2 and 3 as part of its money laundering investigation.
The case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) stems from a Punjab Vigilance Bureau FIR accusing Arora of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Arora had allegedly offered a bribe of Rs 1 crore to a senior officer of the Vigilance Bureau to settle inquiries pending against him. He was arrested on October 15, 2022, while allegedly handing over Rs 50 lakh in cash as an advance payment at Zirakpur, the ED said in a statement.
The agency alleged that during as Punjab’s Minister of Industries and Commerce Minister from March 2017 to September 2021, Arora had direct control over the functioning of PSIEC.
“During this period, he extended undue favours to private real estate players in the transfer of high-value PSIEC industrial plots and, in return, acquired stakes in real estate entities in the name of his son Parteek Arora,” it alleged.
PSIEC is a Punjab government agency tasked with promoting small-scale industries and developing infrastructure for industries.
The searches resulted in the seizure of mobile phones, “incriminating” documents, property documents, records relating to PSIEC plots, digital devices and the freezing of bank lockers, the agency said.
The ED action comes ahead of the assembly polls in Punjab scheduled for early next year.
(PTI News)
