NEW DELHI/PANAJI: India’s Federal money-laundering investigating agency, the Enforcement Directorate, is probing cash payments made in Goa by a political lobbying agency, the I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee) and the Trinamool Congress party (TMC) before and during the run-up to the 2022 Goa Assembly polls.
The ED carried out searches recently at the office of the I-PAC in Kolkata as well as the residence of its co-founder Pratik Jain. The ED has said the searches were carried out as part of an investigation in connection with a money laundering case registered in 2020 against businessman Anup Majee, who is facing charges of coal smuggling and hawala operations.
As per the ED, a coal smuggling syndicate led by Majee used to steal and illegally excavate coal from ECL leasehold areas of West Bengal and then sell it at various factories/plants in West Bengal. ED has alleged that a large part of this coal was sold to Shakambhari Group of companies and the proceeds of crime (POC) were then transferred to various networks.
The probe against Majee revealed links with hawala operators as well, as per the ED. Among them, one hawala operator linked to layering of proceeds of crime of coal smuggling is alleged to have facilitated transactions of tens of crores of rupees to I-PAC.
ALSO READ: Goa link to I-PAC, TMC ED raids: Rs 20-30 crore cash transferred to Goa via hawala during 2022 Assembly Polls
Investigators claim that funds generated through the coal smuggling operation, allegedly led by Anup Majee, were diverted using both domestic and international hawala channels. Just one hawala operator, identified as R Kantilal from Kolkata, is alleged to have facilitated the transfer of around Rs 20 crore to Goa via hawala during the period. The link reportedly emerged from WhatsApp chats recovered from an accountant associated with the coal syndicate. The ED alleges that many such illegal hawala transfers took place during the 2022 Goa polls.
The ED has traced money transfers from Kolkata to a person named Akshay Kumar, who, in his statement, claimed to be associated with the firms M/s Hertz and Pixelz. He reportedly told investigators that these companies worked with I-PAC during the Goa 2022 elections, providing various services to the I-PAC.
Further, the ED alleges that cash was routed via hawala to ASM Event and Tech Pvt Ltd, an event management firm engaged during the election period. The ED also claims that I-PAC director Pratik Jain handled operations in Goa and facilitated the transfer of funds for election-related activities.
I-PAC officials including Prateek Jain who was heading the Goa operations during the 2022 Assembly polls handled all the payments, above and under the table, including paying off Congress, MGP and BJP senior office bearers to join the Goa party unit. Senior Congress workers who joined the TMC in 2022 were allegedly offered (and paid) amounts ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh in cash, upfront. Possibly, the hard disks, the files and registers at the I-PAC office in Kolkata had all this 2022 data, said a former Goa MLA who joined the TMC and then quit the party just before the polls, claiming that the TMC ‘turned out to be a mirage’, compared to what was promised at the time of joining.
The ED is investigating further to find out all the beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime in Goa. According to ED sources, almost Rs 80 crore of tainted funds were diverted to Goa during the 2022 assembly polls by the TMC and the I-PAC and it wants to identify all the beneficiaries. Read more here..
TMC, ED approach Calcutta High Court
Meanwhile, the Calcutta High court on Friday deferred the hearings filed by the ED, the TMC and Pratik Jain regarding the raids, as the judge walked out of the courtroom due to chaos, with lawyers pushing and shoving each other, creating a major commotion in the room. In spite of warnings by the judge, the commotion continued leading to the adjournment.
Hearings in the cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) were deferred to January 14. The ED had sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for allegedly intervening in the central agency’s probe and raid into the coal scam during searches conducted at the I-PAC office and the residence of I-PAC chief Pratik Jain on Thursday.
On the other hand, the Trinamool Congress filed a counter-petition seeking the return of documents seized by the ED during the raids. Mamata Banerjee alleged that the BJP was misusing the ED to steal the Trinamool Congress’s poll strategy ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
TMC MPs detained
TMC MPs Derek O’Brien and Mahua Moitra were detained by the cops on Friday as they held a protest outside the office of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. MPs Satabdi Roy, Bapi Haldar, Saket Gokhale, Pratima Mondal, Kirti Azad and Sharmila Sarkar were also detained and taken to Parliament Street police station.
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