Kolkata: In a blow to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday froze three bank accounts of the party.
These accounts reportedly have Rs 440 crore deposits. As per the federal probe agency, the action was taken under the anti-money laundering law following searches in an alleged funds misappropriation case. “The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Kolkata Zonal Office, has conducted search operations at five premises in and around Kolkata under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, belonging to the Carewell group of companies operating in the aviation sector. During the searches, balances amounting to Rs. 440.42 crore lying in three HDFC Bank accounts of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) were frozen under Section 17(1A) of the PMLA, 2002,” the ED said in a statement. “The searches were conducted in connection with an investigation under the PMLA based on an FIR registered by the Cyber Police, Bidhannagar, West Bengal, in a case involving alleged dishonest financial dealings, unlawful collection of money, and routing of suspected funds through certain bank accounts of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). The investigation revealed that approximately Rs. 160 crore was transferred from AITC bank accounts to M/s Carewell Aviation India Pvt. Ltd. and its related entity, mostly between April 2023 and June 2026,” it added.
TMC’s Reaction:
The TMC called the ED's act politically motivated, arbitrary, and illegal. The party also claimed that all funds held in the party's bank accounts were "fully and transparently disclosed.""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 Banerjee-led party said in a statement.
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 Mamata Benrejee-led wing of the party called the freezing of its accounts a “politically motivated act.”
“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," it alleged.
