Calcutta HC pulls up ED as documents miss Abhishek Banerjee’s assets
On September 14, the Calcutta high court had directed the ED to submit property details of Abhishek Banerjee and his company
The Calcutta high court on Monday pulled up the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over the documents it submitted related to the assets of Trinamool Congress (TMC) member of Parliament (MP) Abhishek Banerjee, who has been questioned by central investigating agencies in multiple scams, as it showed only three insurance policies and no other assets of him.
“The documents say he (Banerjee) has only three insurance policies and doesn’t have any other assets. Is it so? He doesn’t have a bank account? I was shocked to know that there are only three insurance policies (in his name). He is a MP. He must be having a bank account where his salary is credited,” the single bench of justice Amrita Sinha said.
The ED official whom the bench was questioning, however, said that the MP’s bank accounts details were with the ED and they were being scrutinised.
“These are not reflected in the list of assets. What kind of report have you prepared? Are you a post office? Somebody has forwarded a report and you have just taken a printout. The court wanted to know about the assets. Why shouldn’t you give?” the court said.
“You want the investigation to go on or you want it delayed in such a manner that all evidence is lost. Are you all trained to conduct these types of investigations? I would like to believe that you all are the best ones. The documents produced and the speed with which you are proceeding raises doubts,” the bench said.
On September 14, the Calcutta high court had directed the ED to submit property details of Banerjee and his company, Leaps and Bounds Pvt Ltd, the name of which surfaced during the investigation of the multi-crore recruitment scam in state run schools across West Bengal.
The court also sought the names and property details of actors whose names are under scanner of the investigating agencies probing the multi-crore recruitment scam.
The federal agency had questioned Banerjee for more than eight hours at its Kolkata office on Wednesday. The ED had issued a statement on August 23 saying that the TMC MP was the company’s CEO and also a director from April 2012 to January 2014.
The TMC hit back saying that the ED has a low conviction rate
“People are now asking why a judge should become frustrated when the ED is not being able to prove anything against Banerjee. We all know the ED has a very low conviction rate. The ED officials are so efficient that they download personal files during a raid. Even a child can understand that the Centre is using agencies to target the TMC. Questions are also being raised in the mind of people about a section of judiciary,” Santanu Sen, TMC MP told the media.
