The Enforcement Directorate claimed that in connection with the Saradha money laundering case, it had attached assets totaling more than £600,000 from "beneficiaries" including Nalini Chidambaram, the wife of Congressman P Chidambaram, former CPM MLA Debendranath Biswas, and a company "owned" by the late Anjan Dutta, a minister from Assam.
A provisional order for attaching movable properties worth £330,000 and immovable assets worth £300,000 has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the federal agency said in a statement.
These properties were owned by the Saradha Group and other people, who were beneficiaries of "proceeds of crime" generated by the group, it said.
The ED stated that among the "beneficiaries" are Nalini Chidambaram, Debendranath Biswas, a former IPS officer and ex-CPM MLA, Debabrata Sarkar, and Anubhuti Printers and Publications, which is "owned" by Dutta, a former leader of the Congress' Assam branch.
The Saradha Group allegedly paid Nalini Chidambaram a legal fee of £126,000 for her appearances in court and before the Company Law Board for a television station purchase agreement, according to earlier claims made by the ED.
Dutta was considered a close confidante of late Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and he was a minister in his cabinet, handling several departments, including transport. He was appointed Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president in December 2014 and he held the post till his death in 2016.
