A staggering sum of 20 crore rupees is at the center of a controversy involving a complex web of financial transactions, as reported by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). This money allegedly passed through six different hands via hawala—a method of transferring money that bypasses traditional banking channels—to obscure its origins before ultimately being funneled to the Goa office of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), a prominent political consultancy.
On Saturday in Kolkata, Congress supporters took to the streets, symbolically burning an effigy of the ED during protests against the agency's recent raid on the I-PAC office, which has connections to the Trinamool Congress (TMC). The ED has made serious allegations in a petition filed with the Calcutta High Court, asserting that these funds were part of proceeds from alleged illegal coal smuggling operations in West Bengal. They contend that this illicit money was routed through both domestic and international hawala networks and was used to finance political campaigns. Notably, one such transaction occurred during the Goa assembly elections in 2021-22, as claimed by the agency. However, it's important to note that these accusations are still under investigation and have not yet been adjudicated in court.
The ED's findings reveal that investigators traced the funds back to a former director of a non-banking financial services firm based in New Delhi, who supposedly reached out to an individual known as Munna to facilitate the movement of the money. According to the ED, Munna subsequently connected with another participant in the hawala network, leading to the involvement of a manager from a Kolkata-based hawala operation. Allegedly, this manager informed the ED that he coordinated cash deliveries in Goa during the 2021-22 period. This cash was reportedly designated for an employee of an event management company, who then linked up with the firm's director as well as a related entity.
The ED asserts that these two companies were engaged in managing events and conducting campaign work for I-PAC during the Goa assembly elections. Furthermore, they indicated to the high court that Pratik Jain, co-founder and director of I-PAC, was responsible for overseeing the consultancy's activities in Goa during this time.
Following these revelations, the ED conducted searches on January 8 at ten different locations in both New Delhi and Kolkata, including Jain's residence on Loudon Street in central Kolkata. The agency alleges that the funds in question originated from a coal smuggling syndicate led by Anup Majee, who is accused of illicitly extracting and stealing coal from the premises of Eastern Coalfields Limited, a major state-owned coal producer operating across various regions of Bengal and Jharkhand. According to the ED, the stolen coal was sold to factories in several districts, including Bankura, Purba Bardhaman, and Purulia, all located in western and central Bengal. Factory owners allegedly paid for this coal in cash, which members of the syndicate would collect and deposit at an office in Bhamuria, a locality within the Asansol subdivision of Paschim Bardhaman district.
