ED freezes Rs 440 crore in TMC bank accounts in alleged money laundering probe

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has frozen bank balances worth Rs 440.42 crore lying in three HDFC Bank accounts of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) as part of a money laundering investigation linked to alleged financial irregularities. According to an ED press release, the Kolkata Zonal Office carried out searches at five premises in and around Kolkata under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with the probe. The agency said the bank accounts were frozen under Section 17(1A) of the PMLA. The ED said its investigation is based on an FIR registered by the Cyber Police in Bidhannagar, West Bengal, alleging dishonest financial dealings, unlawful collection of money and routing of suspected funds through certain bank accounts of the AITC. According to the agency, its investigation has revealed that around Rs 160 crore was transferred from AITC bank accounts to Carewell Aviation India Pvt. Ltd. and its related entities, mostly between April 2023 and June 2026. The ED alleged that Rs 82.96 crore was subsequently routed to another newly incorporated related entity for the purchase of an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft and an Agusta 109 Grand New helicopter, with around Rs 112 crore spent on the acquisitions. The agency further claimed that an unsecured loan of USD 1.7 million was arranged in 2023 from a Cayman Islands-based entity to facilitate the purchase of the helicopter. According to the ED, the aircraft and helicopter were later rented out to the Trinamool Congress despite being purchased using funds allegedly originating from the party's corpus. It alleged that substantial payments were subsequently transferred on the pretext of aircraft usage and said the arrangement is being examined to determine the actual beneficiaries of the transactions. The agency said the investigation is continuing.