'Hawala' Firm In I-PAC Probe Had Surfaced In Delhi Liquor 'Scam' Case Too

One of the firms under scrutiny in the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) investigation into the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) is Kolkata-based R Kanti Lal, whose name had earlier surfaced in the agency's probe into the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam involving the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). 

I-PAC, a consultancy firm, is engaged by several political parties, including the Trinamool Congress.

The ED on Friday alleged that I-PAC spent around Rs 20 crore in Goa between 2021 and 2022, funds which it claims were proceeds of crime generated from illegal coal excavation. According to the agency, the money was routed through the R Kanti Lal firm, among others, in Kolkata before being deployed in Goa.

Documents accessed by NDTV show that the Income Tax Department had conducted raids at R Kanti Lal's Goa office in January 2022. An analysis of the seized data revealed that approximately Rs 45 crore had allegedly been transferred to Goa through hawala channels. Investigators claim this amount was used to finance election-related activities during the Goa Assembly elections in 2022.

The AAP has been accused by the agency of being a major beneficiary of the proceeds of crime allegedly generated from the Delhi Liquor Policy 2021-22. According to the ED's allegations, a portion of the Rs 45 crore routed to Goa was used to support the AAP's election campaign in the state.

The probe agency alleged that, in the I-PAC matter, the funds were routed through R Kanti Lal, along with several other hawala operators, before they reached I-PAC and its Director Pratik Jain ahead of the Goa elections in 2022. The agency raided I-PAC's office as well as R Kanti Lal's premises in Kolkata's Bada Bazar area.

The ED's probe in the current case stems from an investigation by the CBI against businessman Anup Majee and several officials of Eastern Coalfields (a subsidiary of Coal India) over alleged illegal coal excavation and theft in West Bengal's leasehold areas.

Another name common to both cases is that of one Sagar Patel. "Intelligence received indicates that around Rs 20 crore of proceeds of crime from Kolkata to Goa was transferred through the R Kanti Lal firm. The employee who handled the hawala transfers in Goa is Sagar Kumar Patel," the agency claimed in its petition on Friday. 

Patel, who was an employee of R Kanti Lal in Goa, was also allegedly part of moving funds through hawala channels in the liquor policy case.