Srinagar, November 21: Directorate of Enforcement(ED) on Saturday conducted searches at 7 places in Kashmir related to suspicious transactions.

In a statement, ED said that it has conducted searches at seven places in Kashmir under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act,2002(PMLA) in a case relating to suspicious transactions in J & K Bank.

Among these 7 locations, six are in Srinagar and one in Ananatnag district, it said.

ED initiated investigation under PMLA after CID, CIK Srinagar registered FIR against Bank officials of J & K Bank, unidentified public servants & private persons and others for suspicious transactions in various bank accounts.

“It has been alleged in the FIR that the bank accounts were used for routing money of public servants as well as some private parties. Further, bank officials, in connivance with these public servants, deliberately omitted to raise the alerts as required under Anti-Money Laundering (AML) norms,” it reads.

The statement stated that Investigations conducted under PMLA so far have revealed that the transactions in many of these bank accounts maintained with J &K Bank were not genuine and these accounts were utilized for the purpose of laundering.

On the basis of specific information, searches at seven places belonging to Mohd. Ibrahim Dar, Murtaza Enterprises, Azad Agro Traders, M & M Cottage Industries and Mohd. Sultan Teli were conducted which resulted in recovery of evidence of money laundering as the bank accounts have been found to be used for routing suspicious transactions, it said..

The parties covered under searches are involved in Hospitality and Agro based Industries, civil construction and real estate, it said.

“Statement of persons covered in the searches are being recorded to unravel the source of huge credits and debits in their accounts. Recovered incriminating documents and soft data are also being analysed,” it added.

Further investigation is under progress, reads the statement.