The Enforcement Directorate (ED) interrogated Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal for nine hours on Monday, in relation to the Rose Valley Chit Fund case. ED had asked Pal and his wife to come for questioning. Pal was the director of the film division of the Rose Valley Group.
The actor turned politician arrived the CGO complex in Salt Lake City in Kolkata in the morning on Monday, accompanied by his wife and a lawyer. They came out of the office complex at around 7:30 pm, but he refused to address the media. The statements made by him during the questioning have been recorded by the ED. He may be summoned for further interrogation again.
The ED wanted to question the Trinamul MP during Durga Puja but he sent his lawyer stating that he would not be able to turn up. He even requested the ED to conduct the interrogation at his residence but his request was not accepted by the ED. Earlier, Tapas Pal was interrogated by CBI in connection with the Rose Valley Chit Fund scam case in 2015. In December 2016 Pal was arrested by the CBI and was kept in judicial custody. He was granted bail in February 2018.
The Rose Valley Chit Fund was actually a Ponzi scheme in which the entities affiliated to the group collected large sums of money from gullible investors promising them astronomical returns. The Company also allegedly made cross investments in its various sister firms to escape its liability towards its investors. An FIR was registered by the ED against its Chairman and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2014. He was later arrested in 2015.
