ED freezes TMC's Rs 440-cr worth bank deposits under PMLA, party calls act illegal

Kolkata/New Delhi, Jul 8 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has frozen three bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), holding deposits worth Rs 440 crore, under the anti-money laundering law following searches in an alleged funds misappropriation case. The TMC called the ED's act politically motivated, arbitrary and illegal, while claiming that all funds held in the party’s bank accounts were “fully and transparently disclosed”. The central agency said in a statement that the orders were issued under Section 17 (1A) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which authorises an ED officer to freeze an asset (like a bank deposit) when it is not practicable to seize such a property and it is essential that the asset is not transferred or otherwise dealt with. Such an order has to be confirmed by the adjudicating authority of the PMLA within a fixed time period. An amount of Rs 440.42 crore is held in the three HDFC Bank accounts of the TMC, the ED said. In a related development, the private bank, where these accounts of the TMC are held, filed a report before the Calcutta High Court as directed to disclose the corpus held in these accounts. The court did not open the report, and the hearing was adjourned till Thursday. The ED on Tuesday raided five premises in Kolkata, including those belonging to a private jet and charter hiring company named Carewell Aviation India Pvt. Ltd. The agency undertook this action after taking cognisance of an FIR filed by Kolkata police (Bidhannagar cyber wing) regarding allegations of dishonest financial dealings, unlawful money collection, and routing suspected funds through certain bank accounts of the TMC, which was recently ousted from power in West Bengal by the BJP. A response from the Kolkata-based non-scheduled aircraft operator to a PTI query was awaited at the time of filing this story. As per information available on the company website, the group, besides offering aircraft leasing and private charter, is also involved in aircraft sale and acquisition, aviation consultancy and aircraft management and operations. According to the ED, its preliminary investigation found that about Rs 160 crore was transferred from the TMC's bank accounts to Carewell Aviation and its related entity between April 2023 and June 2026. "Carewell Aviation routed an amount of Rs 82.96 crore during 2023-2026 to another newly incorporated related entity for purchasing an aircraft Embrarer Legacy 600 and a chopper Agusta 109 GrandNew. "An amount of Rs 112 crore was used for making the said purchases," the ED said. The agency said that an amount of USD 1.7 million was arranged as an "unsecured" loan in 2023 from a Cayman Islands-based entity to purchase the said helicopter. These two flying assets were "rented" to the TMC, even though they were purchased from the corpus of the party, the ED alleged. "Thereafter, substantial amounts were transferred on the pretext of aircraft usage." The ED said the "dubious" arrangement was under investigation to ascertain the actual beneficial purpose of the transactions. Last month, Kolkata Police froze debit operations on these same 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. Responding to the development, the TMC said in a statement: “All funds held in the party’s bank accounts have been fully and transparently disclosed. The party has duly reported all donation transactions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Income Tax Department. These disclosures are published annually on the ECI’s website and are available in the public domain.” The details relating to electoral bonds are already available with the Centre, as the bonds were issued by the State Bank of India and subsequently submitted to the Supreme Court, it added. “The Enforcement Directorate’s decision to freeze the party’s bank accounts is a politically motivated act. We strongly condemn this arbitrary and illegal action. The misuse of investigative agencies to target political opponents has become a hallmark of the BJP’s politics and represents a serious assault on democratic institutions and the principles of a level playing field,” the Mamata Banerjee wing of the TMC alleged. The latest action marks a significant escalation in the ED's investigation into the alleged financial trail involving the embattled party which has suffered cracks in leadership right down the middle following its assembly poll debacle in Bengal. PTI NES ZMN SMY NN