Luxury jet, Agusta chopper: Curious case of TMC-owned aircraft 'rented' by Mamata
Did the Trinamool Congress fund the purchase of a luxury jet and a helicopter only to rent the very aircraft back? The puzzling question is
Did the Trinamool Congress fund the purchase of a luxury jet and a helicopter only to rent the very aircraft back? The puzzling question is at the centre of the ED's money laundering probe into the Mamata Banerjee-led party's bank accounts. Adding to the party's woes, the ED also froze three bank accounts of the TMC holding deposits of Rs 440 crore - a move the party called "politically motivated". Read Full Story Significantly, this is the first time that the ED is solely investigating the funding of a political party. Previously, the accounts of the AAP were also probed, but it was part of an investigation into the Delhi liquor policy case. The development further tightens the noose around the TMC, whose leaders have been facing a raft of cases, from signature forgery to land grab. ED RAIDS AVIATION COMPANY The present case stems from the ED's raids on a Kolkata-based aviation management and leasing firm, Carewell Aviation India Pvt Ltd. Interestingly, the firm was incorporated in September 2021 - the same year Trinamool came to power for a third term.
The ED, in its statement, has claimed that around Rs 160 crore was transferred from the Trinamool's bank accounts to Carewell Aviation between April 2023 and June 2026. The company further routed Rs 82.96 crore to another newly incorporated entity. The funds transferred from the TMC, the ED claimed, were used by Carewell to purchase a luxury business jet - an Embraer 600 - and an Agusta 109 SP helicopter. The two aircraft cost around Rs 112 crore. The Embraer Legacy 600 is a mid-size business jet manufactured by Brazilian firm Embraer. It features luxurious interiors, with seats that can convert into flatbeds. On the other hand, the Agusta 109 SP is a high-speed, twin-engine VIP helicopter manufactured by Italian firm Leonardo (formerly AgustaWestland). Moreover, the ED found that around Rs 16 crore was secured in 2023 from a Cayman Islands-based company for the purchase of the AgustaWestland helicopter. A British Overseas Territory, the Cayman Islands is globally famous for being a hub of offshore companies. "It is also revealed that an amount of USD 1.7 million was arranged as an unsecured loan in 2023 from one Cayman Islands-based entity to purchase the said helicopter," the ED statement further said.
TMC RENT AIRCRAFT BOUGHT WITH OWN FUNDS? Now, here is where the case gets interesting, and has piqued the interest of the ED. The financial probe agency has found that both the helicopter and the Embraer jet were leased back to the Trinamool for rent. This, despite Carewell purchasing the aircraft using funds transferred from the party. In simple terms, the situation is akin to someone buying a brand new car with their own money and then paying rent to use the very same car. According to a report in Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika, Carewell Aviation provided charter services to VVIPs, including top TMC leaders like Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata's nephew. "These Embraer 600 aircraft and Agusta helicopter were subsequently rented out to TMC itself, even though they were purchased from the party's corpus. Thereafter, substantial amounts were transferred on the pretext of aircraft usage," the ED said in its statement. TRINAMOOL CRIES VENDETTA The ED is now zeroing on finding the reason behind the move. The agency suspects it might have been done to camouflage the true purpose of the transactions. These transactions may have been used to siphon party funds.
The BriefWire