New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday, March 24, summoned Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee to appear before its officials on March 29 in a money laundering case related to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal.
Banerjee was also questioned for eight long hours by the ED on 21 March. The parliamentarian was questioned about two firms with alleged links to his family members and foreign bank accounts connected to his wife Rujira Banerjee.
Officials had said Abhishek’s statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and he was confronted with some “evidences” gathered by the investigators.
While leaving the ED office, the MP said he was a “law abiding citizen and hence he has cooperated in the investigation”.
Banerjee reportedly did not cooperate with the financial probe agency when he was questioned on 6 September last year. The TMC MP was reportedly asked about the unaccounted-for money which was received by the two companies allegedly associated with his family.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has said that All India Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee and his family are the biggest thieves of coal in this country.
He further said that if the ED presents details of the whole coal scam, the people of the country will come to know the amount of money they have accumulated in foreign banks.