Bhubaneswar, Jan. 13: Seashore Group chief Prashant Dash today said the deposit collection company had business dealings with Balasore MP Rabindra Kumar Jena, whom the CBI interrogated here yesterday.
Dash spoke to reporters while being produced at a local court here. He said he did not know the MP personally but admitted to have dealt with Jena's firm.
'We have taken some money as loan from Jena's firm to invest in our real estate business. We had paid some loan amount, but the full amount is yet to be paid,' said Dash.
Jena, a first-time parliamentarian from the BJD, told reporters yesterday that his relations with the Seashore Group were confined to business. The CBI had grilled him for around three hours yesterday. Before entering into the political arena, Jena worked for several business firms, including Balasore Alloys Limited.
However, his interrogation has given Opposition leaders an opportunity to criticise the BJD. Both the Congress and the BJP today alleged that ruling party was patronising the sham companies.
'The CBI probe has slowed down since Saroj Sahu, the personal assistant to the chief minister, appeared before the CBI. We are waiting for the final outcome of the CBI probe in connection with the Ponzi scams,' said president of the Pradesh Congress Committee Prasad Harichandan.
In a related development, the CBI today conducted raids at 14 places in Odisha on Safex Group, deposit collection company.
The agency conducted raids on the residential premises of company directors Firoz Khan, Purna Chandra Biswal, S. Chinmay Subudhi and Santosh Nanda.
The raids were conducted in Bhubaneswar, Ganjam, Angul and Sambalpur districts. The head office of the company in Gandhinagar and its branch offices in Berhampur and Chhatrapur in Ganjam district were also searched. The CBI has also seized a number of documents during the search.
The group has allegedly cheated investors to the tune of Rs 10 crore through its schemes.
The Economic Offences Eing, which was earlier probing the financial irregularities of the group, had arrested eight office-bearers of the company. The wing had also registered a case against the company in 2012 and seized 15 acres belonging to it, apart from bank deposits worth Rs 5 lakh.
