Director of Odisha finance company arrested

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, June 3:

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branch (CB) today arrested another director of a non-banking finance company, Microfinance Ltd, Ashok Patnaik on the charges of money laundering.

The arrest was confirmed by ADG CB Bijay Sharma this evening.

On March 29 this year, the EOW had arrested a director of the company Baikuntha Patnaik on charges of money laundering and Ajay Swain, former personal assistant (PA) to the commissioner-cum-secretary, Panchayati Raj  for issuing an official letter on behalf of the department allegedly without prior permission of the departmentsal secretary.

The EOW sleuths had arrested the duo on the basis of a complaint lodged by the Panchayati Raj department following media reports that Swain had issued an unauthorised letter in favour of the company.

According to reports, Swain, during his stint as PA to the commissioner-cum-secretary, Panchayati Raj, had issued a letter in the name of the former, to all district collectors asking them not to take action against the Microfinance Ltd, a non-banking finance company, and allow it to continue its business since it had got prior permission from the state government.

CB officials said Ashok Patnaik, who had been absconding after Swain and Patnaik were nabbed, was directly involved in the illegal collection of money from investors in the state on behalf of his company.