Coal Scam: TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee Appears Before ED

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee, on Monday, said that he is ready to face any investigation. He asserted this while appearing before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Delhi for questioning by the agency officials in connection with the coal scam. He reached the ED office at around 11am today. He said that he will cooperate with the agency.

He left for the national capital from Kolkata on Sunday after the agency issued him a summon to appear in its Delhi office.

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Abhishek, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, will be questioned by top officials of ED. Media reports suggest that a case under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act has been registered against him in connection with coal scam. ED has said that top politicians of West Bengal were involved in the alleged coal smuggling case.

TMC party’s national general secretary Abhishek was summoned by ED for September 6 along with his wife Rujira Banerjee. However, she requested the agency to question her at her residence citing the Covid-19 pandemic situation.

Abhishek left for Delhi from Kolkata on Sunday evening. At the Kolkata airport, while speaking to media, he said that he would get himself hanged publicly if central agencies prove his involvement “even in a 10-paisa transaction” in the alleged scam.

Abhishek, the Lok Sabha MP from Diamond Harbour constituency, during a media interaction alleged that the BJP lost a political battle during West Bengal Assembly polls 2021 and now their leaders are doing “vendetta politics”. He alleged that he was called to Delhi by the probing agency even when the case pertains to Kolkata, at the behest of the BJP.

According to media reports, the case pertains to two companies – Leaps and Bound Pvt Limited and Leaps and Bound Management Services LLP. The owners of these companies received protection money to the tune of around Rs 4.37 crore from a construction company, the owners of which are being probed in the coal smuggling case.

Amit Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee’s father is one of the directors of Leaps and Bound Pvt Ltd. Rujira is director of Leap and Bound Management Services Limited along with Amit Banerjee.

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