MUMBAI, June 13 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday questioned actor Dino Morea for a few hours as part of its money-laundering investigation related to the alleged irregularities in contracts to desilt the Mithi River, which caused a loss of over Rs.65 crore to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The Mumbai unit of the central agency is investigating whether Morea and his brother Santino were involved in the alleged fraud or if they were linked to any part of the proceeds of crime generated by people and entities being probed in the case, officials said. The Morea brothers have denied all allegations related to their involvement in the case. The ED is likely to question more people linked to the case in the next two weeks, officials said. Dino Morea was at the ED's office at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai for over three-and-a-half hours after arriving around 10.30 am on Thursday. The agency recorded his statement under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), officials said. The 49-year-old was questioned about the ED's suspicions regarding his alleged role in the fraud, which he has denied. The agency is verifying whether he is connected to any of the proceeds of crime, officials said, adding that the verification is still in a preliminary stage. Morea was summoned days after the ED carried out searches at 18 locations across Mumbai, Kochi and Thrissur on June 6 in connection with the investigation. The locations searched included the residential/office premises of Dino and Santino Morea, BMC engineer Prashant Ramgude, civic contractor Bhupendra Purohit, alleged intermediaries Jay Joshi and Ketan Kadam, and Matprop Technical Services Pvt Ltd, a Kochi-based company that rented machinery and equipment for the desilting work. According to the ED, the Morea brothers are close associates of Kadam. The Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which had registered an FIR in the case on May 6, had questioned the brothers twice last month. The EOW booked 13 people and entities in the case, including three BMC officials, for allegedly causing a wrongful loss of Rs.65.54 crore to the BMC. The ED's investigation is based on this case. On June 7, the ED said that its investigation and search operations have so far prima facie indicated that Ramgude, Purohit, Joshi, Kadam, officials of Matprop and others allegedly colluded to form a cartel with the intent to manipulate BMC's tenders related to desilting the Mithi River. "This action effectively conferred a monopoly in [the] award of desilting contracts of Mithi river and caused payments at inflated rates for desilting works, resulting in undue gains to the contractors and associated parties, thereby causing financial loss to the public exchequer," the agency said in a press release. These undue financial gains were concealed by layering them through certain shell companies formed by Kadam, Purohit, Ramgude and others, the agency added. During its searches last week, the ED seized Rs.7 lakh in cash and froze 22 bank accounts/fixed deposits and a demat account. The total amount seized or frozen is more than Rs.1.25 crore so far, the agency said....