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Journalism of Courage
The Enforcement Directorate — which probes the financial misdeeds of the nation at large — is now coming to grips with a scam allegedly carried out by a low-ranking official for over 13 years at one of its own offices.
The cashier of the ED’s Ahmedabad zonal office, B.P. Kapadia, is allegedly involved in embezzlement of cash deposited by parties towards penalties imposed by the department.
What’s worse, hundreds of bank demand drafts, which were collected by the directorate since 1988 and which should have been credited to the Government’s account, have been found piled up in a cupboard in the office.
The deputy director of the Ahmedabad office has filed an FIR against Kapadia, an upper division clerk, with the city police. A departmental inquiry has also been instituted, sources said.
Kapadia apparently did not deposit the drafts as penalties are usually asked to be paid partly in cash and partly by draft. If the drafts were deposited, questions might have been raised about the cash component of the penalties which he embezzled.
It is not yet known whether there were other employees or officers colluding with Kapadia.
