ED has frozen three bank accounts of TMC worth Rs 440 crore
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) whether a portion of the funds from the frozen bank accounts of the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) could be released to meet the party’s day-to-day expenses through a Calcutta high court-appointed special officer.Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for the central probe agency, told a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale that he would seek instructions on the matter.The bench subsequently posted the matter for hearing on August 11.During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Banerjee-led faction, which is the petitioner in the case, argued that the party was unable to even pay salaries to its employees due to the freezing of its accounts.The top court is hearing a plea filed by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool faction challenging the July 20 order of the Calcutta high court.The high court had refused to grant interim relief to the group to operate three TMC bank accounts that had been frozen by the ED.Referring to the high court’s order, Sibal said, “What does the impugned order say? It says there are 36 separate accounts which are not seized. That is factually incorrect.” Raju opposed the submissions and informed the bench that an investigation was underway. The ASG also alleged that money laundering had taken place through those accounts.The anti-money laundering law “is not only for actual money laundering but also for prevention of money laundering. We are preventing it,” the ASG added.When Raju claimed there was a “continuous offence”, Sibal countered the submission and questioned how such an argument could be made when the bank accounts had already been frozen.The bench was informed that the high court had appointed a former Calcutta high court judge as a special officer to oversee the operation of the three bank accounts for meeting the day-to-day expenses of running the political party.It was during this discussion that the Supreme Court suggested whether some amount could be released in favour of the special officer to meet the party’s daily expenses.The ED froze the three bank accounts, with a combined balance of Rs 440.42 crore, as part of its money laundering probe stemming from an FIR registered by the West Bengal Police over alleged dishonest financial transactions, unlawful collection of funds and routing of suspected money through certain party accounts.In its order, the high court had noted that apart from the three accounts placed under a “debit-freeze” by the ED, there were 36 other accounts in the party’s name, with around Rs 164 crore lying in them.Subsequently, the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the TMC approached the high court challenging the initiation of ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) proceedings by the ED, which is equivalent to an FIR.
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According to officials, the ED’s preliminary investigation found that around Rs 160 crore was transferred from TMC’s bank accounts to Carewell Aviation India Pvt Ltd and its related entity between April 2023 and June 2026.The company allegedly further routed Rs 82.96 crore to another newly incorporated entity during the same period.Officials claimed that a “significant” amount was transferred to this entity, of which Rs 112 crore was allegedly used for purchasing an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet and an AgustaWestland 109SP helicopter.(With PTI inputs)
