Saradha Money Fanned Bangla Flames

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Saradha Money Fanned Bangla Flames - The New Indian Express
Saradha Group chairman Sudipto Sen, prime accused in the multi-crore chit fund scam, not only funded political parties in India, but also Islamic fundamentalists in Bangladesh.

Investigating agencies CBI and Enforcement Directorate have stumbled upon sensational information that suggests to fan the agitation against the Awami League government in Bangladesh, Sen sent large amounts of cash through an influential politician, who is now a Rajya Sabha MP.

The CBI contacted various agencies of the Ministry of Home Affairs as well as the Ministry of External Affairs and learnt that several dossiers have existed for decades about the MP with the home department of the state government. All these agencies were aware of the MP's antecedents and links with various Islamic fundamentalist organisations including SIMI, of which he was a key member.

The CBI and ED learnt that funds collected from the public through Saradha's chit fund schemes were centrally deposited at the group's offices in Salt Lake. After being accounted for, hundreds of crores were transported to various centres close to the Indo-Bangladesh border. The cash was put in huge bags and taken by ambulances belonging to the Saradha group. The Indian currency was then secretly converted to Bangladeshi Taka and European currencies at a "Foreign Currency Convertor Centre" belonging to a man from Kolkata. Armed couriers of radical Islamic outfits would then smuggle the converted currency across the border under the cover of darkness.

The deal was that Sen would finance these radical outfits, mainly the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, but separately large amount of his funds would also be delivered to designated places in Bangladesh. The leaders of these outfits had to arrange for Sen's funds to be sent to banks in Europe through their couriers. The sleuths believe that thousands of crores collected from Indian citizens by the Saradha group had reached these "anti-India radical Islamic groups in Bangladesh" and also to several terrorist outfits of the country who were earlier operating in Bangladesh.

Though the CBI or the ED is refusing to disclose the identity of the MP, many former senior Intelligence Bureau officials were more forthcoming. They said they were not aware of the transfer of funds to Bangladesh but drew the attention of Union home minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and also the PMO.

Former Special Director, Intelligence Bureau, Dhanesh Chandra Nath said, "We all know who this man is. It is unfortunate that West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee sent Ahmed Hassan alias Imran to the Rajya Sabha despite knowing his antecedents. When SIMI was banned in 2001, Mamata Banerjee was a Union minister and she should have known about its leader's activities in West Bengal. What is of serious concern to us is the planned infiltration of the known subversive elements into the most sacred and highest corridors of power," he said.
Nath, who was earlier Joint Director, SIB, in Kolkata for six years, revealed that Ahmed Hassan during his days at Aligarh Muslim University came in touch with SIMI and was given charge of West Bengal and he was also Amir-e-Halka for Jamaat-e-Islami Hind for eastern region of the country. In 1981, Ahmed Hassan started a Bengali magazine Kalam from 19, Dargah Road but later in 1998 shifted to another address on 45, Elliot Road. The Dargah Road office then became a guest house for SIMI. Intelligence agencies have reports of SIMI's link with Islamic Development Bank, which is headquartered in Abu Dhabi.

There are reports that Ahmed Hassan was the key man for IDB in eastern India while managing director of IDB, Mamul Al-Azam, son of president of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Golam Azam, is his close friend. After turning Kalam into a daily and having come in contact with Sen, he sold the newspaper to the Saradha group, but remained editor. Hassan was introduced to Sen by suspended TMC Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh, who was a journalist and media advisor to the Saradha group, and now in jail. During the function of the newly launched paper Dainik Kalam Mamata Banerjee attended the inauguration and heaped praises about its "journalistic ethics".

The ED served two notices to Ahmed Hassan to question him about his financial transactions with Saradha group. He ignored the two notices saying he was "busy with the Lok Sabha elections being a TMC Rajya Sabha MP". But now the ED in a strongly worded summon has directed him to report to its office by Monday, failing which strong action would be initiated against him.

An ED officer said, "We have concrete evidence against him. He was in charge of a Bengali daily financed by Saradha and was involved in financial transactions. If he doesn't respond, we will move court and seek permission to arrest him."

When contacted, Ahmed Hassan denied receiving any notice. "I am yet to receive any notice but am willing to cooperate with the investigation," he said.

The Scam
  • The Saradha Group financial scandal is a scam that was caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies.
  • The group lured lakhs of investors to deposit money in its schemes with the promise of abnormally high returns.
  • Official estimates say Saradha mopped up about Rs 1,200 crore through its chit funds, but some calculations put that the figure closer to Rs 4,000 crore.
  • As many as 2.5 to 3.5 lakh people worked as funds collection agents for the group, and also invested their own money. These agents got a commission ranging from 15 to 40 per cent.
  • The schemes were simple and attractive. An investor could invest as little as Rs 100 and get returns of 15 per cent to 50 per cent.
  • Also used as lures were land and fancy holidays, always with the assurance that if it failed to deliver, it would give cash. It was a classic ponzi scheme.
  • Saradha did not create the assets it promised it would. It merely gave money collected from one depositor to pay off another.
:tsk: :tsk:
 
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Saradha-Jamaat trail- NSA steps in
India and Bangladesh have agreed to share as much information as possible with each other regarding the flow of Saradha funds which is alleged to have funded the Jamaat-e-Islami. Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, foriegn minister of Bangladesh met with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and shared concerns about the alleged flow of Saradha funds.
India during the meet told Ali that there is a lot of proof to suggest that a considerable sum of money has gone to Bangladesh at the behest of some leaders. Bangladesh on the other hand informed Doval that their own agencies had found that a surprising lot of money had reached the Jamaat and the group which was down for sometime had shown active signs of resurgence. The past couple of years have witnessed the Jamaat becoming aggressive and this is attributed to the funding which made them stronger, Bangladesh also told India. Ali also told Doval that his country was extremely worried about the money that had reached the Jamaat.

India on the other hand said that there was information to show that money could have reached the Jamaat. Doval informed Ali that the probe was underway and various agencies were on the job. Further India also sought the cooperation of Bangladesh in helping tracking down these funds. The fund transfer was initiated with the help of some Indian leaders and they are being probed at the moment. Both the Intelligence Bureau and the CBI are seized off this matter and they would be probing a TMC MP alleged to have facilitated this fund transfer owing to his close links to the Jamaat, India also informed Ali.

However both sides agreed that the effort to track down the source of funds and it's movement would need to be a combined effort. India would hand out more details about who the TMC leader met in the Jamaat to initiate this fund transfer. Bangladesh on the other hand assured that it would act on the information and question members of the Jamaat in Bangladesh.
Sources tell Times Now that the probe needs to be done both the countries as both are equally affected. India will send out information on a regular basis and Bangladesh will have to dig for more as all those part of the receiving end are in Bangladesh."Ž It was also agreed that Bangladesh would also help with information of how and where the Jamaat moved Saradha money through hawala channels as India wants to bring that money at any cost. India while assuring of all help also sought a through probe by the Bangladesh agencies in this regard. This is a case affecting two nations and hence the probe needs to be a two way street, India told Ali to which he agreed.

There were also some concerns raised of how members of the Jamaat who faced a crackdown in Bangladesh had allegedly taken shelter in West Bengal. India has sought more details on this and has assured of cooperation. An Intelligence Report specific to the Saradha scam had stated that money had moved to Bangladesh. While one part was to fund the Jamaat to overthrow the Awami League the other part was to be pushed into different countries through a hawala channel. In the report it was also mentioned that a TMC, MP had also assured a safe hide out for Jamaat leaders facing the heat in Bangladesh. Close to 25 Jamaat leaders had fled Bangladesh following a crack down and allegedly took shelter in West Bengal the report states.
 

nrupatunga

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[url="http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/subcontinent-central-asia/63236-major-us-operation-oust-hasina-weaken-left-tripura-3.html#post951897]Major US operation to oust Hasina, and weaken left in Tripura - DFI Thread post #32[/url]
 

nrupatunga

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Shah Rukh Khan's company under ED scanner in connection with the Saradha scam
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan's company has now come under the Enforcement Directorate scanner in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam.

The ED has said that the money transferred between the actor's Red Chillies, a movie production and distribution company, and Rose Valley, sponsors of Kolkata Knight Riders, was more than what was mentioned in the deal that was signed between the two companies.

The ED also said that an influential person was involved in the deal, refraining from naming the person, One India reported.

ED has seized around 2,500 bank accounts of Rose Valley after it had received a complaint from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

The ED may call officials of Red Chillies and Shah Rukh Khan himself for further probe. The ED suspects that money has been transferred abroad via Kolkata Knight Riders, a substantial part of which is owned by the actor.
 

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