Calcutta High Court Judge Observes "Mindboggling" Money Laundering in Primary Teachers' Recruitment Scam
Details Withheld to Ensure Unbiased Probe as CBI and ED Investigate Allegations
The Calcutta High Court's Justice Amrita Sinha, who is overseeing the alleged scam involving the recruitment of primary teachers, noted on Friday that the amount of money laundered was staggering. She also stated that, in order to facilitate a more thorough investigation, she was withholding information from the reports that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI had submitted at this time.
After reviewing the papers that the CBI and the ED had turned in two days prior, in response to a court order to seize the assets of Leaps and Bounds, a business that included Trinamul Congress politician Abhishek Banerjee as a director, the judge made this observation.
It's astounding how much money has been laundered. On several levels, money has exchanged hands. The proceeds of criminal activity have easily moved from one department to another and from one person to another. It has also made its way up to the state that borders it. The severity of the crime is hard to comprehend. According to a court decision, "government jobs appear to have been sold at exorbitant rates."
The judge stated in the decision that "the court is refraining from mentioning the specifics disclosed in the report in order to maintain the integrity of the investigation process and to preserve the rights of the parties at the stage of trial."
"The court expects the agencies to explore the possibility of filing charge sheet(s) and to proceed for trial or else the pain and the trouble taken and the time consumed to collect the evidence shall all go in vain and the offender shall go scot-free," the court said, expressing hope that both investigating agencies would continue to unearth the specifics of the crime.
"More proactive steps are required to be taken in terms of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002," the court stated, citing the ED report.
According to the decision, "ED is directed to identify the proceeds of crime and particularly ascertain the source of such a huge amount of money accumulated by the Company M/s Leaps and Bounds."
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