TMC slams ED after Rs 440.42 crore in party accounts frozen

The funds in question have been fully disclosed and the donation transactions have been duly reported to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Income Tax Department, the party said in a statement published on X. The party stated that these statements are published on the ECI’s website every year and are freely accessible to the public.

“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 on the ECI website every year and are available to the public,” the statement said.

Regarding electoral bonds specifically, the TMC claimed that “the details were already available with the Government of India as the bonds were issued by the State Bank of India (SBI) and subsequently submitted to the Supreme Court.”

Terming the ED’s action “arbitrary and illegal”, the party further said: “The Enforcement Directorate’s decision to freeze the party’s bank accounts is a politically motivated action. We strongly condemn this arbitrary and illegal action. Misuse of investigative institutions to target political opponents has become a hallmark of BJP politics and represents a serious attack on democratic institutions and equal playing field principles.”

The party’s claim came after the ED froze Rs 440.42 billion in three HDFC Bank accounts belonging to AITC or TMC in connection with its investigation into allegations of fraudulent financial transactions, illegal collection of funds and routing of dubious funds through certain bank accounts of the party.

ED’s Kolkata regional office froze the amount following earlier search operations at five facilities in and around Kolkata under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, belonging to the Carewell group of companies operating in the aviation sector.

“During searches, balances of Rs 440.42 crore in 3 HDFC bank accounts of AITC were frozen under section 17 (1-A) of PMLA, 2002,” ED said in a statement.

ED said it launched the searches in connection with an investigation under PMLA 2002 based on an FIR lodged by Bidhannagar Cyber ​​Police in West Bengal regarding allegations of fraudulent financial transactions, illegal collection of funds and routing of suspicious funds through certain bank accounts of TMC.

ED also said that its investigation revealed that around Rs 160 million was transferred from TMC bank accounts to Carewell Aviation India Pvt Ltd and its related entity mostly between April 2023 and June 2026.

The agency also disclosed that Carewell Aviation Pvt Ltd has directed an amount of Rs 82.96 billion to another related newly established entity between 2023-2026 for the purchase of Aircraft Embrarer Legacy 600 and an Augusta 109 Grand New helicopter.

In its statement, ED said, “An amount of 112 billion Rupees was used in the purchases in question. It was also revealed that an unsecured loan of 1.7 million US dollars was arranged in 2023 from an organization based in the Cayman Islands for the purchase of the helicopter in question.”

According to the federal agency, these Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft and Agusta helicopters were later leased to TMC itself, although they were purchased from within the party.

It was later stated that significant amounts were “transferred under the pretext of using aircraft”.

ED also added that the “suspicious arrangement” is under investigation to determine the true purpose of the transactions.