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PANAJI: The enforcement directorate (ED) has found evidence of illegal transfer of funds by an employee of the Portuguese consulate in Goa. Acting on a complaint against Luis Felipe Norte, a Portuguese national and a technical specialist in the consulate, the ED’s investigation found that Norte has been depositing large amounts of cash regularly in his accounts.

“As a technical employee of the consulate, Luis Norte possibly could not have received these type of regular cash inflows. He gets a salary of Rs 1,00,000 (approximately) and the same is being paid in cheque,” the final report, signed by joint director, ED, Pravin Pawar, stated.

Though the ED, on the request of Portuguese consul general Rui Carvalho Baceira , sent a copy of the final report of September 1, 2015, to him in August last year, Norte continues in his posting in the Goa mission.

Baceira said cases of bribery and corruption that might crop up in Portuguese diplomatic missions around the world are dealt with by Portugal’s ministry of foreign affairs. “What goes on inside the embassy is neither the business nor concern of the Indian people or those living in Goa,” he said.

“Being a small place, the Goa consular office since 1994 has been the source of gossip and misunderstanding… all cases since 1994 (when the consular office was established here) have been duly addressed by the Portuguese authorities,” Baceira said.

But a fortnight after he received the ED report, Baceira in a letter to Pawar asked the Indian authorities to carry out a “thorough investigation” to uncover the real identity of the complainant, Sanjay Kumar Padha.

Padha had alleged that Norte, who was deputed to the Goa office in 2010, has many fictitious bank accounts in the name of the consulate. These accounts are being used to deposit and transfer huge amounts to personal accounts in Portugal, the UK and Dubai, among others.

The ED probe, which was started on November 27, 2014, found large amounts of cash deposits in Norte’s personal account with the Corporation Bank.

Between 2010 and 2015, he had made 81 cash deposits of over Rs 39 lakh into this account, of which 77 deposits were of Rs 49,000.

From 2013 to June 2014, Norte transferred Rs 13 lakh from his Corporation Bank account to his HDFC Bank account, which was opened in early 2013, and Rs 6,28,996 was transferred in October 2014 from his recurring deposit account. There were five cash deposits totalling Rs 2,03,000 made into this particular HDFC Bank account.

“Consulate of Portugal, Goa, accepts various types of fees in cash from persons who apply for visa, registration of births, etc, and these amounts are deposited in cash in the bank accounts maintained with HDFC Bank, Panaji branch, and Corporation Bank, Tonca branch. Intelligence gathered indicates that various agents dealing with the Portuguese consulate make payments underhand in cash as speed money to certain officials of the consulate,” the ED report said.

But after the ED found that Norte enjoys diplomatic immunity and could not be issued summons to be examined under FEMA ( Foreign Exchange Management Act), Pawar wrote to his superiors for permission to close the case and share his findings with the Portuguese consul.

