Bengal school job case: ED records show Partha Chatterjee biggest beneficiary in total scam

Kolkata, Dec 25 Former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee and his close associate Arpita Mukherjee have been shown as the highest beneficiaries in the total scam amount of Rs 151.26 crore in the cash-for-school job case in the records of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as elaborated in its fifth and last supplementary charge sheet.

As per the supplementary charge sheet filed at a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata, of the total amount of Rs 151.26 crore confiscated by the ED so far, the combined share of proceeds of Chatterjee and Mukherjee in the entire amount is Rs 103.78 crore.

The confiscation is in terms of cash and gold seized and immovable property attached.

The second highest confiscation amount in the matter, as mentioned by the ED in its records, is that of a private corporate entity linked to another prime accused, Sujay Krishna Bhadra, where the confiscation amount is Rs 7.47 crore.

Apart from that, as the agency informed the special court, another amount of Rs 2.70 crore linked to the same corporate entity is in the process of confiscation.

The other major beneficiaries in the case, as per the records of the ED are private promoter Ayan Shil and now-suspended youth Trinamool leaders Kuntal Ghosh and Shantanu Bandopadhyay. The combined confiscation amount involving the last three individuals mentioned is Rs 15.03 crore.

Subsequent charge sheets filed by ED in the school job case have named a total of 54, out of whom 29 are individuals and the remaining 24 are corporate entities and trusts. These trusts were mainly used to divert the scam proceeds in the matter under the masquerade of donations.

One such trust, as mentioned by the ED in the records, is the Babli Chatterjee Memorial Trust, which is named after the deceased wife of Partha Chatterjee. Besides Chatterjee, his son-in-law Kalyanmoy Bhattacharya has also been shown as an accused in the case.

Source: IANS