Gujarat ACB to set up benami property cell

AHMEDABAD: To tighten the net on corrupt

government

officials, the

Gujarat

anti-corruption bureau (ACB) will set up a cell to investigate cases under the Benami Property Transactions Act.


Till now, only the income-tax (I-T)

department

has been running a Benami property cell.

The idea comes in the wake of the case involving the now suspended managing director (MD) of Gujarat Land Development Corporation (GLDC), K S Detroja, who was booked under the act. The agency has also come across several other similar cases in its investigations of disproportionate assets cases.

“As we were coming across the benami property cases in various investigations, we decided to dedicate a cell to probe cases under the Benami Property Transactions Act, with help and coordination from the I-T department,” said a senior ACB official.

ACB officials were trained by a Delhi-based I-T officer on May 12, on the protocols of the Benami Property Transactions Act.Initially, two ACB officials will head the cell and its size will be increased according to the number of cases.

After the ACB finds a Benami property, it will inform the I-T department to take further cognizance of the case. Finding Benami property and putting it on record will help the ACB to substantiate cases of corruption.

The Union government had amended the Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, after demonetization in 2016.

The amended law provides for up to seven years rigorous imprisonment and imprisonment for a term not less than a year. A convict can also be made to pay a penalty of 25% of the market value of the property.

ACB wants law officers

The ACB has demanded that law officers be appointed to help the agency secure convictions in corruption cases. The ACB has demanded law officers, on the lines of ‘Pairavi officers’of the CBI, who help investigators approach the cases in a foolproof legal manner.