State PWD minister Satish Jarkiholi said on Thursday that cash seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) belonged to his family and that he would produce records to explain its source, as searches spanning nearly 37 hours at 18 properties linked to him and his associates ended.
The agency said it had seized more than ₹ 3 crore in cash, along with documents relating to overseas investments by members of the Jarkiholi family, including investments in mining businesses in South Africa, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He denied that such investments had already been made, saying there were only plans to invest overseas. “We have plans of making some investments abroad, but so far, we haven’t made any. The minister also questioned why the agency had carried out searches instead of first seeking an explanation through a notice. “There may be a political reason, or it may have come from their own sources. “We knew that our party leaders would be targeted, but the ED came to me first. Jarkiholi repeatedly played down the nature of the operation, describing it as a search rather than a raid, while saying he would cooperate with the investigation.
Properties belonging to Jarkiholi’s family members and associates were also searched, said the central agency. Jarkiholi said the agency had questioned him about alleged investments abroad and possible FEMA violations. I have answered all the questions posed by ED officials and for some of the questions, for which I didn’t know the answers, I have told them I don’t know. If they need any further clarifications on the seized documents, I will explain to them when they issue me with a notice,” he said. They could have issued a notice and sought information,” he said. The fact that there have been no raids on BJP leaders is a question,” he said. “This is not an ED raid, it is only a search,” he said.
