Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned actor Dino Morea again on Thursday as part of its money-laundering investigation related to the alleged irregularities in contracts to desilt the Mithi River, which caused a loss of over ₹65 crore to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The 49-year-old was at the ED’s office at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai for around six-and-a-half hours, during which investigators sought further information and clarifications from him, agency sources said.
“There were certain details that we needed to ascertain and verify. And for that, he was called again. The probe is still at a preliminary stage,” said an ED official, requesting anonymity. Morea arrived at the ED office around 10.30 am and left around 5 pm. The Mumbai unit of the central agency had previously summoned the actor on June 12 to record his statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED is investigating whether Morea and his brother Santino were involved in the alleged fraud or if they were linked to any part of the proceeds of crime generated by people and entities being probed in the case. The brothers have denied all allegations of their involvement in the case.
Earlier, on June 6, the ED carried out searches at 18 locations across Mumbai, Kochi and Thrissur in connection with the investigation. The locations searched included the residential and/or office premises of Dino and Santino Morea, BMC engineer Prashant Ramgude, civic contractor Bhupendra Purohit, alleged intermediaries Jay Joshi and Ketan Kadam, and Matprop Technical Services Pvt Ltd, a Kochi-based company that rented machinery and equipment for the desilting work. According to the ED, the Morea brothers are allegedly close associates of Kadam.
The ED’s probe is based on Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) case, which it had registered in May and had subsequently questioned the Morea brothers last month. The EOW booked 13 people and entities in the case, including three BMC officials, for allegedly causing a wrongful loss of ₹65.54 crore to the BMC.
On June 7, the ED said that its investigation and search operations had prima facie indicated that the accused people and others allegedly colluded to form a cartel with the intent to manipulate BMC’s tenders related to desilting the Mithi River. “This action effectively conferred a monopoly in [the] award of desilting contracts of Mithi River and caused payments at inflated rates for desilting works, resulting in undue gains to the contractors and associated parties, thereby causing financial loss to the public exchequer,” the agency had said in a statement. These undue financial gains were concealed by layering them through certain shell companies by the accused persons and others, the agency added.
During the searches, the ED seized ₹7 lakh in cash and froze 22 bank accounts/fixed deposits and a demat account. The total amount seized or frozen is more than ₹1.25 crore so far, the agency said. Certain digital devices and incriminating documents were also seized that appeared to be relevant for further proceedings under the PMLA, according to the ED.