Enforcement Directorate establishes office in Meghalaya

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has established its first office in Meghalaya that will begin functioning in the north eastern state from later this week, the central probe agency said on Monday.

The new sub-zonal office will be located in capital Shillong and will function under the zonal office-II located in Guwahati, Assam.

The new sub-zonal office at Shillong will start functioning from August 11 and it will be headed by a deputy director rank officer, the agency said.

The office is located at ABRI Building, Langkyrding, Mawpat in Shillong and its official e-mail ID as ddsgszo-ed@gov.in.The jurisdiction of this office will be the state of Meghalaya, it said.

“The establishment of the Shillong sub-zonal office shall significantly improve attachment and confiscation of proceeds of crime under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and also assist and support the police and other state and central law enforcement agencies in the state of Meghalaya to prevent transfer of funds across borders otherwise than through banking channel and thereby further improve overall law enforcement,” the ED said in a statement.

It said the agency is “in the process of making its sub-zonal offices functional in all the remaining state capitals of north east in this financial year.”

The ED functions under the Union Finance Ministry and apart from enforcing the anti-money laundering law PMLA, it also enforces the civil sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the criminal provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act that was brought in 2018 by the Modi government. PTI