IFFCO MD, some of whose properties were attached by the Enforcement Directorate last week, is going about his job of popularizing Nano Urea among farmers as usual. He was in Maharashtra meeting farmers when the ED team was carrying out the attachment of his properties.
It bears recalling that the Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has attached Rs 20.96 crore worth of residential properties of IFFCO MD U S Awasthi in three states in a money laundering case linked to an alleged fertilizer scam and payment of Rs 685 crore as kickbacks.
Down but not out, Awasthi gave details about a Nano Urea awareness program being held at Chandrapur, Assam where more than 60 farmers participated. “Use & benefits of Nano Urea in perspective of environment conservation along with Sagarika, Bio Fertilizer & WSF were discussed”, wrote Awasthi.
Again, Monday morning his zest for life did not wane as he came out with his usual Monday motivation piece in which he tries to motivate his team by quoting practical aspects of life. Today he wrote “Good behavior makes us respectful & powerful. It gives you the power to win the hearts of people around you. Be simple, humble, gentle, polite & responsible. Do something good every day.”
Talking to Indian Cooperative, one of the officials of IFFCO said that the recent act of ED is not an isolated incident and is in fact part of the process of inquiry in which IFFCO is fully cooperating with the govt. “We will come out squeaky clean in the court of law”, he added.
In a statement, the ED said “A probe has found that ”Udai Shanker Awasthi and others in IFFCO generated proceeds of crime and layered it through various unrelated entities and part of this was then transferred to the entities controlled by Awasthi and others”.
It added, “The case relates to illegal commissions worth over Rs 685 crore allegedly paid to the NRI sons of IFFCO Managing Director and CEO Awasthi and Indian Potash Ltd (IPL) Managing Director P S Gahlaut, as well as others by overseas suppliers during 2007-14.”
Earlier, IFFCO Chairman Dileep Sanghani came out in support of Awasthi and said the light of the Sun can be dimmed for a while during an eclipse but it cannot be stopped permanently, underlining that the MD would come out clean once the probe is over.