West Bengal: Suvendu Adhikari seeks probe into Abhishek Banerjee's pension scheme

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], January 9 (ANI): A day after Trinamool Congress (TMC) General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee launched an old-age pension scheme for senior citizens in his Diamond Harbour constituency, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari wrote a letter to the Principal Director General of Income Tax, urging an investigation into the source of the funds.
Alleging money laundering activities by the Diamond Harbour MP, Adhikari said, "I apprehend that the amount of money which has been arranged for donation, may have links with the numerous financial scams of West Bengal. There is a high chance that most of the donors are dubious and the source of funds made available for the Private Pension Scheme has been somehow laundered," reads the letter.
"Couple of months earlier the said Member of Parliament announced at a public event in his Lok Sabha Constituency that applicants of the Old Age Pension Scheme who are the Voters of the Diamond Harbour Constituency need not worry about receiving the Pension Amount as in case the West Bengal Government fails to provide the Pension Amount, he would personally arrange the money and pay all of them in private capacity," read the letter.
"Thereafter, the said MP of Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha Constituency made arrangements for the registration process of the applicants living within the constituency in order to receive the pension amount. Yesterday, on January 7, 2024 he launched the 'Shroddhargyo' (respect to seniors) initiative in his constituency. While he was distributing the cheques to the selected beneficiaries, he elaborated on how more than 85,000 people had registered their names and after Data Sanitization and physical verification, his volunteers found 76,120 (Seventy Six Thousand One Hundred and Twenty) to be eligible for receiving the Pension amount of Rs. 10001- (One Thousand) per month," mentioned the letter further.
"All of the 76,120 people would receive the amount in their bank accounts within 10th January. 2024, through Direct Bank Transfer process such as RTGS, NEFT and cheques. So, if we do the calculations, the funds which would be transferred to 76,120 beneficiaries per month amounts to 76.120 X Rs. 1000/- = Rs. 7,61,20.000/- (Rupees Seven Crores Sixty one Lakhs Twenty Thousand Only)," it added further.
The MP declared that this amount would be provided as long as the Government of West Bengal does not start to provide them Old Age Pension. If the Government of West Bengal never enrols them as beneficiaries of the Old Age Pension Scheme, he promised to keep paying them this amount of Rs. 1000/- per month as long as they live. So the amount of Rs. 7,61.20.000/- (Rupees Seven Crores Sixty one Lakhs Twenty Thousand Only) would be paid every month for an indefinite period of time. The amount may go up if eligible beneficiaries are added to the list, read the letter further.
Requesting the Income Tax department to investigate the source of the funds, Adhikari said in his letter, "I kindly request you to look into this matter and get to the bottom of this, as this whole exercise might unearth a novel and unique financial scam and a new mode of money laundering, which could be traced back to the coal smuggling, teacher recruitment scam, and ration distribution scam."
I am annexing the video clips along with this letter to substantiate the aforementioned information.
For your information, the said Member of Parliament has been under investigation of Central Agencies such as CBI & ED for his alleged involvement in Coal Scam and Teacher Recruitment Scam. The said MP is the nephew of the Chief Minister of West Bengal; Mamata Banerjee and wields considerable influence over the Administration of West Bengal, as mentioned in the letter.
The State of West Bengal has been grappled by the biggest of Financial Scams ever reported in independent India. Recently, the Enforcement Directorate stated in court that the volume of the Ration Distribution Scam Is around Rs. 10,000 Crore and that Rs. 2,700 Crores has been siphoned off to Dubai.
The said MP has a Dubai connection, which has been extensively reported by the media. It is a fact that as per the direction of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, he has to inform the Enforcement Directorate beforehand. every time he intends to visit abroad. Reputed Media houses have reported that he has visited Dubai approximately 25-30 times in the last few years.
This Private Pension Scheme is a blatant attempt to wrongfully influence the electorate of the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha Constituency, in an election year. The MP may have misused his influence on the Police and Administration in order to overcome the huge logistical obstacle of rerouting crores of Rupees and depositing it as a charitable donation.
Therefore, I kindly request you to look into this matter and get to the bottom of this as this whole exercise might unearth a novel & unique financial scam and a new mode of money laundering which could be traced back to the Coal smuggling, Teacher Recruitment Scam and Ration Distribution Scam.(ANI)