Cash For Jobs Scam | Abhishek Banerjee Submitted 5,500 Pages Of Documents During Investigation: ED Tells Calcutta High Court

On Tuesday, the Directorate of Enforcement ("ED"), which is investigating the multi-tier recruitment scam in West Bengal told the Calcutta High Court that it had investigated Leaps & Bounds, a company which was being investigated as a front for proceeds of the recruitment scam, as well as Banerjee who was CEO in the company, as well as his wife. 

A single bench of Justice Amrita Sinha, which is monitoring the investigation, was told by the ED that Banerjee had submitted 5500 pages of documents to the agency during the investigation. 

DSG Dhiraj Trivedi for the ED submitted: We have investigated all the parties. They have given us 5500 pages. These documents include from where money has come, the company's details, etc. We will submit our report to Court in a sealed cover for the court's perusal. Since [the proceedings] are being live streamed, it would not be proper to reveal all details, since they will be in tomorrow's newspapers."

DSG Billwadal Bhattacharya appearing for the CBI also submitted that the agency would be filing its report along with the ED's report in Court on 14th December. 

Upon hearing the parties, the bench adjourned the hearing to January 2024 and pointed out the provisions of Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to the Counsel for the ED. 

It said: The voluminous documents show that there are a large number of properties. You must check the source of income. How can one get a hold of so many properties in such a small time span (since the company was founded in 2014). The recruitment is also from 2014, so you have to look into the money trail. Section 5 of PMLA allows you to provisionally attach properties if you have a reason to believe the same might be later disposed of or transferred. This is to ensure the proceedings and the investigation are not frustrated. Given the huge number of properties don't you think there are chances that the same might be transferred or disposed of? Won't it disturb the probe?

ED Counsel submitted that the agency had made progress and was not leaving any stone unturned.

The Court has called for reports from the investigative agencies and posted the matter for hearing in January 2024.

Case: Soumen Nandy v. The State of West Bengal & Ors. and connected applications

Case No. WPA 9979 of 2022 & connected applications