Siphoning off a hefty 40-50 per cent in ‘cuts’ from contractors and developers of each government project has been the modus operandi of senior Jharkhand minister and Congress leader Alamgir Alam, documents seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have revealed.
The papers, submitted by the agency along with its petition seeking judicial custody of the minister in the special PMLA court on Tuesday, expose how malpractices involving government projects almost became a norm in the state. Alam was arrested by ED in connection with a corruption case last week.
ED’s revelation of kickbacks and illicit commissions show how Alam milked government projects for personal enrichment and party coffers alike. News18 has accessed the petitions and the relevant documents.
“During the course of investigation, searches were conducted at different premises of the accused persons — Sanjeev Lal, private secretary of Minister Alamgir Alam and Jahangir Alam (close associate of Sanjeev Kumar Lal). A huge amount of cash to the tune of Rs 37.5 crore (approx) was seized, which includes seizure of Rs 32.2 crore from the premise of Jahangir Alam, a close aide of Sanjeev Lal. Subsequently, both Jahangir Alam and Sanjeev Kumar were found to be in possession of proceeds of crime and they were arrested,” ED wrote in the petition.
The agency, establishing the grounds for the minister’s arrest, added: “It is ascertained that the said cash seized of Rs 32.2 crore, which was found and seized from the flat in the name of Jahangir Alam at 1A Sir Syed Residency Ranchi, pertains to Alamgir Alam and same was collected by Jahangir Alam at the instruction of Sanjeev Kumar Lal who in turn was doing so on behalf of Alamgir Alam.”
Commission Raj in Jharkhand
The Enforcement Directorate has seized the lists of contractors, quotations for respective projects and the political commission the minister earned. The calculations were made on official letter-heads belonging to the minister or the officers in some cases, the recovered documents have revealed.
According to the seized documents and diaries, a contractor had to pay around Rs 3.78 lakh allegedly to the minister for a Rs 8.40 lakh pond excavation project in a village in Bokaro in January 2024. For a road construction project in Giridih worth Rs 5.60 lakh, the contractor paid around Rs 2.52 lakh to the minister the same month. These are a few of the projects mentioned in the list.
The said lists seized from the residential premises and offices of the associates of the minister mentioned 25 such projects in January for which the minister allegedly received kickbacks of around 40-50 per cent per project.
“M” for ‘minister sahab’
The list has details of the contractors, their projects, the localities, and the ‘cut’ money that goes to ‘M’. The ED, in the petition, said during the investigation, it came to know that the ‘M’ means ‘minister’.
“Further, several official documents on the official letterheads and official letters were
found with huge cash from the premise of Jahangir Alam, which would have been kept under the possession of Sanjeev Lal, as PS to rural development minister Alamgir Alam, which establishes that Sanjeev Kumar Lal was using this premise for keeping documents and records, cash and other belongings related to Minister Alamgir Alam,” ED said in the petition.
“During investigation it is revealed that records of such collections were being maintained by Sanjeev Kumar Lal and also by the other Officers of Rural Development Department. Investigations further revealed that code letters “M” (Minister), Sahab and “H” (Honourable Minister) were being used by them which refers to the Minister Alamgir Alam, for keeping records of such commissions,” ED added in the petition.
The directorate explained that the “proceeds of crime are collected and distributed in an organised manner and the share of the persons involved in the process is fixed for the kind of work they are involved in”.
The petition added: “During the course of investigation, many instances and corroborative evidence were also found which clearly establishes the role of Alamgir Alam. Therefore, Alamgir Alam is found to be involved in the offence of money laundering, and acquired and is in possession of proceeds of crime which are concealed and kept at the premises of his associates and, which are subject matter of investigation in the instant case.”
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