Bengal Scams: Besides money laundering ED wants to book some masterminds under DA clause

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the different financial scams in West Bengal wants to book some of the masterminds under the clauses of disproportionate assets (DA) besides the ongoing provisions of money laundering.

Sources said that in order to get deeper into the nature of controversies in the scams, there is a necessity to get to the root of the source of funds used for acquiring huge assets and properties by these masterminds.

For that purpose, there are legal requirements for booking them under the disproportionate assets clause besides the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

On December 12, Justice Amrita Sinha of the Calcutta High Court, while hearing on a matter relating to the multi-crore cash-for-school-jobs case, had emphasised that the ED should get deeper into the sources of funds for the creation of assets and properties by the directors of a corporate entity whose named surfaced during investigation into the case.

Now, as the ED officials are considering initiating action against the masterminds under the disproportionate assets clauses, the proposed move is presumed to be prompted by the observations of Justice Sinha.

Sources aware of the development said that the inclusion of disproportionate assets clause is felt even more in the case of those from whose premises huge amounts of unaccounted cash, gold and other expensive items were recovered.

Booking the masterminds under the disproportionate assets clause will enable the ED to make water-tight cases against them, as advised by the agency’s legal brains.

Another point that the ED is trying to establish is the timing of the scams coinciding with the abnormal rise in the assets and properties of these masterminds.