New Delhi, May 21: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids on Tuesday at the premises of retired IAS officer and former Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary Ramesh Abhishek as part of an investigation into money laundering linked to disproportionate assets, according to official sources. The probe by the ED follows a recent FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the 1982-batch officer, who had previously been subject to a raid by the CBI in February.
Abhishek, who retired from the DPIIT (formerly known as the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) in 2019, is the focal point of the ED’s investigation into alleged money laundering activities. The CBI’s FIR claimed that Abhishek accumulated wealth “illicitly” post-retirement by receiving substantial consultancy fees from private companies with whom he had prior dealings during his tenure.
In addition to Abhishek, his daughter Vanessa has also been implicated in the investigations conducted by both the CBI and the ED. Abhishek, who also served as the chairman of the Forward Markets Commission, came under scrutiny following a referral from the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal.
The allegations leveled by Lokpal suggest that both Abhishek and his daughter received significant sums as professional fees from various entities and organizations with whom the former IAS officer had official interactions during his tenure as secretary or chairman.
