• Source:JND
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The Enforcement Directorate has arrested political consultancy firm I-PAC co-founder and director Vinesh Chandel in a money laundering case, weeks ahead of the Bengal election polls.

He has been a key figure in India’s political consulting landscape for over a decade. I-PAC is the political consultancy firm of which Bengal's ruling Trinamool is a key client, in connection with an alleged coal scam.

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Why Was He Arrested?

Delhi Police filed an FIR agaisnt Vinesh Chadel, which then served as the basis for ED's probe. Numerous instances of financial irregularities and different forms of money laundering by Indian PAC Consulting Pvt. Ltd. have been uncovered by the investigation thus far. These include the receipt of both accounted and unaccounted funds, the receipt of unsecured loans without any business credentials, the issuance of false bills and invoices, the receipt of funds from third parties, and the movement of cash through hawala channels, including international hawala. Further investigation has shown that Indian PAC Consulting Pvt. Ltd. was complicit in the laundering of several crores' worth of criminal funds. Approximately Rs. 50 crore has been found thus far.

According to an official, the I-PAC co-founder was taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Delhi on Monday. The arrest acts as a major political blow to the poll-bound state, as the organisation has been providing political consultancy to the Trinamool Congress and the West Bengal government since 2021.

The arrest is not erratic; previously, another I-PAC co-founder and director, Rishi Raj Singh, in Bengaluru, and former Aam Aadmi Party communications in-charge Vijay Nair, in Mumbai, were also interrogated. Their houses were raided by the probing agency on April 2.

In January, the agency carried out raids at the I-PAC office along with the Kolkata residence of the founders and directors, Pratik Jain. This further deepened the controversy after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the location and took away all the documents.

According to the federal investigative agency, the raids in I-PAC and Jain House were obstructed by Banerjee. It added that the CM, along with other government officials, had forcibly taken it away. Reacting to the accusation, CM Banerjee alleged that the ED actually attempted to take TMC's election strategy documents from the I-PAC premises before the polls.

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ED Accuses CM of 'Misusing Power'

The ED, earlier, sought a CBI probe into "gross abuse of power by CM Mamata Banerjee" from the Supreme Court. The top court is currently hearing the case.

The case bears roots from a November 2020 FIR of the CBI, which poses serious allegations of a multi-crore scam in connection with the Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in West Bengal's Kunustoria and Kajora areas, in and around Asansol. As per the ED, the hawala operator connected to the coal-smuggling racket had facilitated crores to Indian PAC Consulting Private Limited, the registered company of I-PAC.

Abhishek Banerjee Criticises Timing Of Arrest

Reacting to the arrest, TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee claimed that the arrest of Chandel, 10 days prior to the Bengal elections, is "not just alarming, but shakes the idea of a level playing field."

 


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