ED attaches Rs 10.29 cr demand draft of Alchemist Group meant for Trinamul Congress
Telegraph | 12 March 2024
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday attached a demand draft of Rs 10.29 crore issued to the Trinamul Congress by the Alchemist Group, which is under probe by the central agency, just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
“The ED, Delhi zonal office has provisionally attached an amount of Rs 10.29 crore of All India Trinamul Congress party in the form of a demand draft rendered by it during the investigation into the offence of money laundering by Alchemist Group and others,” the probe agency made public on its social media handle on Monday evening.
The agency had earlier summoned the former Trinamul all-India general secretary, Mukul Roy, in connection with the case. The state power minister and Trinamul’s treasurer, Aroop Biswas, has also been summoned in connection with the case.
The case dates back to 2016, when the agency had attached assets worth Rs 239 crore of the Alchemist group, whose founder KD Singh was a former member of the Rajya Sabha from the Trinamul, and allegedly involved in a Ponzi scam around Rs 1,900 crore.
Singh was arrested in connection with the alleged money laundering case in January 2021. The agency had carried out raids in premises owned by Singh at several places across the country in 2019.
The leader of Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, welcomed the ED move.
“In my view this can’t even be termed as the ‘tip of the iceberg of corruption’. It is merely an ice cube. If the noose is tightened properly this amount would have to be multiplied by at least 10,000,” Adhikari said.
ED alleges around Rs 10.29 crore was used by Alchemist Group, accused in a money laundering case for making payments to aviation companies on behalf of Trinamul Congress party during the campaigning for 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.
The Enforcement Directorate started its probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following several FIRs filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the police in Uttar Pradesh and Kolkata, to trace the money trail.
“Investigations revealed that Alchemist group collected funds amounting to more than Rs 1,800 crore from investors in its companies, Alchemist Holdings Limited and Alchemist Township India Limited, on the false promise of providing high returns and giving flats, villas, plots, high rate of interest on the investment to the public or investors. However, the investors were never returned their money and the funds siphoned off or diverted to various group companies of Alchemist Group,” the agency said.
Investigations conducted by the probe agency revealed that part of the funds raised by the company was used to make payments to various aircraft companies from whom the Trinamul Congress had hired choppers for its campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The agency said the choppers were hired for star campaigners of the party like Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, then all-India general secretary Mukul Roy, actor-politicians Moon Moon Sen and Nusrat Jahan.