The Center Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had summoned the quizmaster-turned-politician Derek O’Brien on Thursday in regard to a probe into Trinamool Congress’ income and expenditure. Later on Friday, he was summoned once again by the CBI in a case related to Saradha ponzi scheme.
The CBI issued summons for Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien to facilitate them in their investigation of the Saradha ponzi scheme case. According to the officials, the Rajya Sabha MP, who is also a spokesperson of West Bengal’s ruling party, has been asked to appear before a CBI team in the first week of August.
The agency had summoned Derek in January this year as well in connection with chit fund cases and allegations of money laundering after the CBI had questioned Manik Majumdar, a close aide of CM Mamata Banerjee.
The Saradha scam broke in 2013 when a ponzi scheme run by the Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies, collapsed after collecting hundreds and thousands of crores from over 15 lakh investors.
Senior leaders of the Trinamool Congress have been alleged to be intimately involved in the scam ever since the CBI initiated its investigation. Earlier, it was reported that the agency had questioned Manik Majumder in connection with the case who is believed to be a close aide of the Bengal CM. The CBI suspects that Majumder had knowledge about the purchase of paintings by the CEO and CMD of the Saradha Group, Sudipto Sen, and that he is a key player in managing the funds of the party.
TMC has sniffed a conspiracy allegedly orchestrated by the Central Government as the summons regarding investigations into TMC’s accounts were sent to Derek at 2pm on July 25, at the same time as the TMC’s motion in Rajya Sabha to oppose amendments to the RTI Act was about to start.
