SHILLONG, May 11: Power Minister, Prestone Tynsong on Wednesday dismissed as baseless media reports that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had conducted a raid at the headquarters of the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) at Lumjingshai and seized documents.
He told reporters that the ED has been communicating with the MeECL since October-November last year seeking a clarification and documents on various matters. He said the MeECL furnished whatever documents or information was sought.
He said the ED had on Monday (May 9) sought more clarifications and documents from the MeECL and the same was furnished.
“But I would like to mention that there was no such raid and no such seizure of documents from the office of the MeECL. The media houses concerned should have verified the facts,” Tynsong, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister, said.
Claiming that no criminal activities had taken place in the MeECL, he said the committee, which probed alleged irregularities in the corporation, had also sought clarifications and everything was shared.
To a query, he said he will not be able to provide the details on the kind of clarifications sought. According to him, the information sought could be on tender documents, tender agreement and tender papers.
He said it could be a procedure followed by the ED. He said in case an RTI or any complaint has been filed, it means the ED will accordingly send communications to any department or maybe, a department is seeking clarifications or digging deeper into the complaints. The information sought may also be related to the observations made in the CAG report, he added.
“It was just a normal routine communication that had taken place. Question of raid and seizure does not arise,” Tynsong said. He said the report of the probe panel has been already submitted to the government under the Political department.
“The department concerned is studying the inquiry report. We are expected to receive the observations on the report very soon,” he said.
The MeECL also dismissed the media reports.
“There was no raid and no officers were questioned. No papers were also seized,” the MeECL said in a rebuttal on Wednesday.
A source had informed The Shillong Times of the ED raid and seizure of documents related to the implementation of Saubhagya scheme, on Tuesday. This followed a show-cause notice served on four MeECL officials by the ED, the source had said.
