The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday submitted a charge sheet before a special PMLA court in Kolkata against former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his alleged aide Arpita Mukherjee in the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam. The court has taken cognisance of the charge sheet, which has a total of about 14,500 pages.
The agency arrested the duo on July 23 in connection with an investigation into the money trail involved in the school recruitment scam.
According to the details of the charge sheet learnt by CNN-News18, six entities were used for money laundering, including five private limited companies, and a partnership firm.
The ED unearthed mountains of cash at two different locations during its probe. According to the charge sheet, the second place was the office of Ananta Texfab, a private unlisted firm.
The agency says, Partha Chatterjee’s late wife, daughter, and son-in-law had shares in the company. However, all shares were transferred to Arpita and her company without any consideration, it is alleged.
A total of 31 LIC policies in the name of Arpita were found, with Partha as the nominee, says the charge sheet.
Arpita Mukherjee has made an accurate disclosure before the ED, where she has revealed who is the real owner of the money recovered, the agency says.
A relative of Partha has given a statement that Rs 15 crore in cash was given by the former minister to his son-in-law, which was utilised for the construction of the Babli Chatterjee Memorial (BCM) International School, in the name of the suspended Trinamool Congress leader’s late wife.
Chatterjee was sacked as minister by the Mamata Banerjee government shortly after his arrest, while the Trinamool Congress, too, removed him from the posts he held in the party, including that of the secretary general.
He is at present in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for his questioning in connection with the scam.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday also said it has attached assets worth Rs 46.22 crore “beneficially owned” by Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee as part of its money laundering probe into the teachers’ recruitment scam.
The attached properties include 40 immovable assets such as a farmhouse, flats, and “prime land” located in Kolkata worth a total Rs 40.33 crore, apart from Rs 7.89 crore worth deposits kept in 35 bank accounts, the agency said in a statement.
According to the ED, several of the attached properties were registered in the name of shell companies and persons acting as proxies for Chatterjee.
(With agency inputs)
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