Kolkata, Jun 23 (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday accused the previous Mamata Banerjee dispensation of paying more than Rs 324 crore to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for organising a business conclave, and indicated that the payment was made in violation of established norms.
Speaking in the assembly during the discussion on the governor's address, Adhikari displayed official files to back his allegations.
"Do you want to see what your leader has done? You speak so highly of BGBS. Rs 324.73 crore was given to FICCI," Adhikari told the opposition bench.
The Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), launched in 2015, had been one of Mamata Banerjee's flagship initiatives to attract domestic and foreign investment to the state. Successive editions of the summit witnessed participation by leading industrialists, diplomats and business delegations from several countries.
"The Bengal Global Business Summit was organised by the government. The former finance minister… your former chief minister directly gave Rs 324.73 crore to FICCI. How was the money paid?" Adhikari said.
The chief minister also showed documents bearing the former chief minister's signature and claimed that the alleged irregularities were only a fraction of a much larger issue.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
Adhikari alleged that the state government had directly transferred Rs 324.73 crore to FICCI for a year, and questioned the manner in which the payment was made.
The chief minister, however, did not mention the year in which the alleged payment was made.
Responding to the allegations, FICCI said it was nominated by the West Bengal government as the National Industry Partner for seven editions of the Bengal Global Business Summit — in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2025.
The industry chamber said that across the seven editions, it received a total management fee of around Rs 16 crore from the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) towards manpower and organisational expenses associated with the event. PTI BSM SCH NN MPL MPL
(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)
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