nThe Enforcement Directorate on Monday alleged that mining contractors linked to the District Mineral Fund (DMF) in Chhattisgarh paid huge amounts of illegal gratification to officials and political executives in exchange for getting work tenders. The agency said in a statement that it carried out searches in this case at 13 locations in the state on March 1 and seized about Rs 27 lakh in cash apart from incriminating digital and paper documents. The money laundering probe into the alleged DMF scam was initiated after studying three FIRs registered by the Chhattisgarh Police. The FIRs booked the contractors and some other accused on charges of siphoning off government funds in collusion with officials and political executives. This case is related to corruption in the use of funds from the DMF in Chhattisgarh. The DMF is a trust funded by miners that has been set up in all districts of the state with an aim to work for the benefit of those affected by mining-related projects and activities, the ED said. The contractors paid huge amounts of commission/illegal gratification to officials and political executives, which is to the tune of 25 to 40 percent of the contract value, it alleged. The ED said the cash used for payment of kickbacks was generated by the vendors using accommodation (hawala) entries. Quoting an instance, the ED said the DMF allocated to Korba district was more than Rs 2,000 crore (till FY 2022-23). At the prevalent rate, the commission amount in Korba alone would be Rs 500-600 crore. Analysis of data for the whole state and quantification of proceeds of crime is underway, the ED said.

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