New Delhi: At a time when the political heat is surging in West Bengal, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating alleged money laundering in a host of cases in the poll-bound state. Cases being investigated under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) range from corruption to chit fund scams to recruitment scams.
The agency claims to have unearthed the role of senior ministers, MLAs and other state functionaries of the ruling Trinamool. ET takes a deep dive into the cases being probed.
I-PAC Case
On April 2, the ED carried out searches at 11 places in Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Vijayawada and Ranchi on premises linked to political consultancy firm I-PAC, the residence of its directors and offices of some companies linked with IPAC. The ED claims to have recovered and seized various incriminating materials relating to money laundering, domestic and international hawala.
It is alleged that Ramasethu Infrastructure Private Limited, an Andhra Pradesh company, gave I-PAC a loan of ₹13.50 crore, with most of it still outstanding. "An infrastructure firm lending a large sum to a political consultancy with no apparent business reason is itself suspect. A CA certificate explaining the loan was issued during the ED investigation, which appears to be nothing but a gap-filling instrument," said a senior ED official on condition of anonymity.
"The repayment made by I-PAC overdrove its own account into overdraft, which a genuinely indebted company would not ordinarily do. No interest or TDS appears to have been charged or paid, which is a classic marker of a bogus loan used to introduce unaccounted money into I-PAC's books," he added. I-PAC has denied the charges.
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Arrest of Vinesh Chandel
On April 13, ED arrested Vinesh Chandel, director of Indian PAC Consulting in connection with an ongoing investigation. Chandel is the founder, director and 33% shareholder of Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd.
ED claimed that its probe so far has revealed multiple instances of financial irregularities and various modes of money laundering by Indian PAC Consulting, including receipt of accounted and unaccounted funds, receipt of unsecured loans without any business credentials, issuance of bogus bills and invoices, receipt of funds from third parties, and movement of cash through hawala channels, including international hawala.
Recruitment Scandals
In the alleged recruitment scandals of SSC and primary teachers, the agency claims to have attached/seized total proceeds of crime amounting to ₹700 crore. The proceeds of crime represent the bribe amount collected from innocent people under the pretext of giving jobs, said another ED official.
The agency has made ten arrests in the case so far. These include Partha Chatterjee, the then education minister; Manik Bhattacharya, MLA, TMC; Jiban Krishna Saha, MLA, TMC; Kuntal Ghosh secretary, TMC Youth; Shantanu Banerjee, vice president, TMC Youth and Sujoy Krishna Bhadra, a person alleged to have close ties with the family of West Bengal chief minister, said an ED official. In its orders, the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court have held that the alleged scandal in both teaching and non-teaching wings is tainted beyond repair and thus cancelled all appointments of more than 25,000 teachers and staff of the SSC.
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Coal Scam
In its PMLA probe, ED claims to have found that the officers of state police and local administration are allegedly involved in facilitating illegal transportation and storage of coal in Bengal in lieu of huge bribes. "Even senior police officers of the level of SP, DIG of Police and District Collector appear to be receiving huge bribes for running this racket. The role of various officials, including the OCs of various police stations, has also surfaced. One such official is Manoranjan Mondal, Officer-in-Charge of the Barabani and Andal police stations, who was previously suspended for his links with the coal syndicate," an ED official told ET.
He said Mondal's WhatsApp chats "establish his dealing in large-scale cash running into crores, that he also utilised hawala channels for the benefit of senior officials and using various bank accounts to receive and layer funds from members of the coal syndicate, indulged in extortion of illegal levies, commonly referred to as 'Gunda Tax' (GT) or 'Rangdari Tax' from coal purchasers/traders and transporters".
Municipality Recruitment Scam
ED's PMLA probe claims to have revealed that even the posts of mazdoor, mistri, drivers and safai karamcharis have been sold in lieu of money in various municipalities of West Bengal by various political functionaries of TMC. "An amount of ₹4-6 lakh was taken for such low wage-earning jobs. Ayan Sil, a middleman was involved in this scam who had manipulated the scores in OMR sheets at the behest of the PEPs," an official told ET.
Last October, ED carried out searches on the premises and entities linked to TMC MLA Sujit Bose. Agency sources said ED has issued multiple summons to Bose. Another summon has been issued to him for April 24.
ED had also carried out searches on the premises linked to Rathin Ghosh, who holds the portfolio of Ministry of Food and Supplies in the Bengal government. "Searches revealed that digital devices which were in the possession of Rathin Ghosh, had the records of 45 candidates recruited in Madhyamgram Municipality," an agency official said. He has also been summoned by the agency on April 24.
Illegal Immigrants Scam
"Many Bangladeshis were illegally allowed to settle in West Bengal and no efforts were made to identify them or to send them back to their own country. No efforts were made by the Bengal police to identify their actual citizenship. Instances have surfaced when some Bangladeshis, originally migrated from Pakistan, hid their Pakistan citizenship and obtained identity cards through forged documents," an ED official investigating the case told ET. Last year, ED arrested a Pakistani national Ajad Mallik alias Azad Hussain who was allegedly facilitating Bangladesh nationals in illegally procuring Indian passports on the basis of documents issued by the West Bengal government.
The agency claims to have unearthed the role of senior ministers, MLAs and other state functionaries of the ruling Trinamool. ET takes a deep dive into the cases being probed.
I-PAC Case
On April 2, the ED carried out searches at 11 places in Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Vijayawada and Ranchi on premises linked to political consultancy firm I-PAC, the residence of its directors and offices of some companies linked with IPAC. The ED claims to have recovered and seized various incriminating materials relating to money laundering, domestic and international hawala.
It is alleged that Ramasethu Infrastructure Private Limited, an Andhra Pradesh company, gave I-PAC a loan of ₹13.50 crore, with most of it still outstanding. "An infrastructure firm lending a large sum to a political consultancy with no apparent business reason is itself suspect. A CA certificate explaining the loan was issued during the ED investigation, which appears to be nothing but a gap-filling instrument," said a senior ED official on condition of anonymity.
"The repayment made by I-PAC overdrove its own account into overdraft, which a genuinely indebted company would not ordinarily do. No interest or TDS appears to have been charged or paid, which is a classic marker of a bogus loan used to introduce unaccounted money into I-PAC's books," he added. I-PAC has denied the charges.
Also Read | Bengal polls: Politicians switch parties here because the system consistently rewards leverage over loyalty
Arrest of Vinesh Chandel
On April 13, ED arrested Vinesh Chandel, director of Indian PAC Consulting in connection with an ongoing investigation. Chandel is the founder, director and 33% shareholder of Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd.
ED claimed that its probe so far has revealed multiple instances of financial irregularities and various modes of money laundering by Indian PAC Consulting, including receipt of accounted and unaccounted funds, receipt of unsecured loans without any business credentials, issuance of bogus bills and invoices, receipt of funds from third parties, and movement of cash through hawala channels, including international hawala.
Recruitment Scandals
In the alleged recruitment scandals of SSC and primary teachers, the agency claims to have attached/seized total proceeds of crime amounting to ₹700 crore. The proceeds of crime represent the bribe amount collected from innocent people under the pretext of giving jobs, said another ED official.
The agency has made ten arrests in the case so far. These include Partha Chatterjee, the then education minister; Manik Bhattacharya, MLA, TMC; Jiban Krishna Saha, MLA, TMC; Kuntal Ghosh secretary, TMC Youth; Shantanu Banerjee, vice president, TMC Youth and Sujoy Krishna Bhadra, a person alleged to have close ties with the family of West Bengal chief minister, said an ED official. In its orders, the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court have held that the alleged scandal in both teaching and non-teaching wings is tainted beyond repair and thus cancelled all appointments of more than 25,000 teachers and staff of the SSC.
Also Read | Can Didi hold the fort against Modi and BJP’s push in battle for Bengal's soul?
Coal Scam
In its PMLA probe, ED claims to have found that the officers of state police and local administration are allegedly involved in facilitating illegal transportation and storage of coal in Bengal in lieu of huge bribes. "Even senior police officers of the level of SP, DIG of Police and District Collector appear to be receiving huge bribes for running this racket. The role of various officials, including the OCs of various police stations, has also surfaced. One such official is Manoranjan Mondal, Officer-in-Charge of the Barabani and Andal police stations, who was previously suspended for his links with the coal syndicate," an ED official told ET.
He said Mondal's WhatsApp chats "establish his dealing in large-scale cash running into crores, that he also utilised hawala channels for the benefit of senior officials and using various bank accounts to receive and layer funds from members of the coal syndicate, indulged in extortion of illegal levies, commonly referred to as 'Gunda Tax' (GT) or 'Rangdari Tax' from coal purchasers/traders and transporters".
Municipality Recruitment Scam
ED's PMLA probe claims to have revealed that even the posts of mazdoor, mistri, drivers and safai karamcharis have been sold in lieu of money in various municipalities of West Bengal by various political functionaries of TMC. "An amount of ₹4-6 lakh was taken for such low wage-earning jobs. Ayan Sil, a middleman was involved in this scam who had manipulated the scores in OMR sheets at the behest of the PEPs," an official told ET.
Last October, ED carried out searches on the premises and entities linked to TMC MLA Sujit Bose. Agency sources said ED has issued multiple summons to Bose. Another summon has been issued to him for April 24.
ED had also carried out searches on the premises linked to Rathin Ghosh, who holds the portfolio of Ministry of Food and Supplies in the Bengal government. "Searches revealed that digital devices which were in the possession of Rathin Ghosh, had the records of 45 candidates recruited in Madhyamgram Municipality," an agency official said. He has also been summoned by the agency on April 24.
Illegal Immigrants Scam
"Many Bangladeshis were illegally allowed to settle in West Bengal and no efforts were made to identify them or to send them back to their own country. No efforts were made by the Bengal police to identify their actual citizenship. Instances have surfaced when some Bangladeshis, originally migrated from Pakistan, hid their Pakistan citizenship and obtained identity cards through forged documents," an ED official investigating the case told ET. Last year, ED arrested a Pakistani national Ajad Mallik alias Azad Hussain who was allegedly facilitating Bangladesh nationals in illegally procuring Indian passports on the basis of documents issued by the West Bengal government.
