The Enforcement Directorate has frozen Rs 440 crore in Trinamool Congress bank accounts, initiating a major money laundering probe following allegations of funds misappropriation involving a private aviation company.
Key Points
- Funds held in three private bank accounts of the All India Trinamool Congress.
- Investigation reveals Rs 160 crore transferred to Carewell Aviation and related entities.
- Rs 112 crore allegedly used to purchase a business jet and a helicopter, rented to TMC.
- Kolkata police previously froze accounts based on complaints from rebel TMC MLAs.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued orders to freeze the TMC's bank deposits worth Rs 440 crore under the anti-money laundering law, following searches in a funds misappropriation case, the officials said on July 8, Wednesday.
There was no immediate response from the Trinamool Congress.
The orders were issued under Section 17 (1-A) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The amount of Rs 440.42 crore is held in three private bank accounts of the All India Trinamool Congress, the officials said.
ED Investigation Details
Five premises in Kolkata were raided on Tuesday, including those belonging to the Carewell Group of Companies, which also operates a private jet and charter hiring entity named Carewell Aviation.
A response from the Kolkata-based non-scheduled aircraft operator to a PTI query was awaited at the time of filing this story.
According to the officials, the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) preliminary investigation found that about Rs 160 crore was transferred from the TMC's bank accounts to Carewell Aviation India Pvt. Ltd. and its related entity between April 2023 and June 2026.
The company is alleged to have further routed Rs 82.96 crore (between 2023 and 2026) to another newly incorporated entity. It was found that a "significant" amount was transferred to this entity.
Out of this, Rs 112 crore was used for purchasing an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet and an AgustaWestland 109SP helicopter, the officials said.
Allegations and Legal Context
These two flying assets were "rented" to the TMC, which was recently ousted from power in West Bengal by the BJP.
Last month, the Kolkata police froze debit operations on these three bank accounts based on complaints from the TMC's rebel MLAs seeking a probe into the source of the funds, amid an ongoing bitter internal battle over control of the party's war chest.
On July 2, the Calcutta high court, while hearing a petition filed by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the TMC challenging the debit freeze of the party's bank accounts, directed the private bank authorities to disclose the corpus held in those accounts.
