ED freezes Trinamool Congress bank accounts with Rs 440 crore deposits

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said that it had frozen three bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress holding deposits worth Rs 440 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The party described the agency’s action as “politically motivated”.

The ED said that it froze the accounts after conducting searches at five premises in and around Kolkata linked to the Carewell Group, an aviation company.

The searches were conducted in connection with an investigation based on a first information report filed by the Bidhannagar Cyber Police in West Bengal. The case pertains to alleged financial irregularities, unlawful collection of money and routing of suspected funds through certain bank accounts of the TMC.

The agency claimed that around Rs 160 crore was transferred from the party’s bank accounts to Carewell Aviation India Private Limited and a related company between April 2023 and June 2026.

Carewell Aviation then transferred around Rs 83 crore to another related entity, which was used to buy an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft and an Agusta 109 Grand New helicopter, the agency claimed. It alleged that Rs 112 crore was spent on the purchases.

The agency also claimed that a Cayman Islands-based company provided an unsecured loan of $1.7 million, or approx Rs 14.04 crore, in 2023 to finance the purchase of the...

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