Teachers job scam: Bengal Minister faces ED heat over Rs 12.73 cr 'fictitious' transactions

Kolkata, Sep 18 (IANS) The fate of West Bengal Minister Chandranath Sinha will hinge on his clarifications regarding the alleged fictitious financial transactions of Rs 12.73 crore identified by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the state’s primary teacher recruitment irregularities.

The matter is set for a crucial hearing at a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata this Saturday.

Sinha, through his counsel, is expected to respond to the Enforcement Directorate’s earlier submission regarding the disputed transactions in bank accounts held by him individually or jointly with his family members.

Sources aware of the development said that, depending on the clarifications provided by Sinha through his counsel at the special court later this week, the Enforcement Directorate is likely to seek the minister’s custody for interrogation.

They added that the investigating officials are primarily seeking two clarifications from the minister regarding the fictitious transactions, the first being the source of funds behind a series of inward remittances, mostly in cash, made to these bank accounts during a specified period.

Sources said the ED officials are seeking two clarifications from the minister regarding the fictitious transactions.

The first clarification relates to the source of funds behind a series of phased inward remittances, largely in cash, credited to the bank accounts during a particular period.

The second concerns the omission of these transactions from the tax declarations of the minister and his family members.

The ED has already told the special court that, during questioning, the minister failed to provide satisfactory answers on either point.

The ED officials have traced illegal transactions worth Rs 12.73 crore, allegedly linked to irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers in the state, to bank accounts held by the minister and his family members.

Details of these fictitious transactions were included in the ED’s sixth supplementary charge sheet filed at the special court earlier this month.

On September 6, Sinha had surrendered before the same court in connection with the agency’s probe into the alleged recruitment scam. The court granted him interim bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 with certain conditions.

In its charge sheet, the ED highlighted a series of large cash deposits made in phases into a joint bank account held by the minister and his wife, Kuntala Sinha, at a Kolkata branch of a public sector bank.

According to the sixth supplementary chargesheet, a total of Rs 1.18 crore was deposited in cash into this account between January 2016 and November 2019, identified as the peak period of the alleged school recruitment scam.

--IANS

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