Saradha scam: The moral decline of Mamata has begun

Here is a thing about morality. You can take the high ground in a world of moral relativity or you can choose to eschew it altogether. The moral compass provides directions and pointers to the extent of the corrosion in your own inner being. Add to this, the fact that contempt can become malignant and that too very quickly.

The Saradha scam and its association with the ruling dispensation in Bengal – Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress – has smacked of moral corrosiveness. As I look at the matrix that has fallen into place before my eyes, I see two top TMC MPs – Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose, I see a former DGP and again a TMC leader in Rajat Majumdar, and I also find a top East Bengal Football Club official Debabrata Sarkar, all ensconced in jail. This week saw big fish – Sports and Transport minister in the Mamata Govt – Madan Mitra – added to that list. The agitationist Mamata’s typical response is to take to the streets against the vindictiveness of the BJP-ruled Centre which has “purportedly” unleashed the CBI to hunt as the hounds. It is clear that speedy action ever since the BJP has emerged as the principal political party at the Centre harboring aspirations of making a dent in West Bengal has lent conviction to this surmise. A buoyant BJP, which managed to garner as much 17 per cent of the vote in a TMC-dominated Bengal senses that revenge is never a straight line.

Rattled

One needs to work hard even while chipping away and it is succeeding for a rattled Mamata seems to have lost her footing. CBI is the instrumentality, it is akin to heavy lumber and it has the TMC on the run. Since perception and reality have coalesced in Bengal, planting seeds of doubt in the minds of voters, corruption has almost overnight turned into an issue of importance. And the taint unfortunately for Mamata is on the TMC. The SC-directed CBI probe in early May, which gathered momentum after the general elections has yielded fresh pickings. As the dragnet closed in, Bapi, alias Rezaul Karim’s testimony before the CBI in August helped snare strongman Madan Mitra. Bapi revealed how Saradha promoter Sudipta Sen was forced to donate Rs 1 crore to renovate a shrine near Saradha Garden in Bishnupur, once Mitra’s constituency. The architecture of the Saradha scam has many dimensions, like an onion, the more you peel, the more the pungency and many more tears. Not to say that there is a "Ferrari ki Sawari" also hidden somewhere. In fact, Madan Mitra’s son was gifted a Ferrari by Sudipta Sen.

Collusive corruption was the credo of Saradha as the TMC muscled its way into what was at the end of the day – money for jam – since Saradha was a pyramid scheme and cash was collected daily in Sen’s office room. Let me give you an instance of the extent of the scam and how investigators remain stumped about certain vital statistics. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office ( SFIO) report on Saradha states, “The data regarding the land held by the Saradha Group was shared by the investigation team for analysis. It was observed from police data shared by the investigation team that total land holding came out to be 198.65 acres. From the Enforcement Directorate data shared by the investigation team, total land holdings were estimated to be 137.27 acres. From our data base using computer forensics and data mining lab, the total land area is 201.93 acres.”

Now take Bishnupur itself where the SFIO says, “On analysis of the land within Bishnupur, both from the data shared by the investigation team and the operational database, it is observed that the land area booked is 201.88 acres, more than 400 per cent of the land area, allegedly held (50.02 acres).” Confused!

It is not just TMC politicians who decided to jump onto the Saradha gravy train. Sudipta Sen befriended many top cops as well to enlarge the scope and size of his influence. In an email to Nalini Chidambaram dated 2.10.2011, Sen writes that “no due diligence was carried out by the Saradha Group before making an investment in GNN.” He then goes on to say that – Hon MP Ms Satabdi Roy (Lok Sabha) is associated with our company as Brand Ambassador and her secretary Somnath Dutta is also there in our company as Sr Vice President and if required they can give you an appraisal report about our company.” Incidentally, Satabdi Roy is a two-time MP from Birbhum on a TMC ticket. In another email to NC Associates (Nalini Chidambaram), Sen writes, “We are enclosing the names of a few reputed police officers (Retd) of our state from whom you can get details of our company and also about me if you require it. If you desire at all, they can appear before you in your chamber in Chennai.”

The names are heavy duty to say the least:

■ Rajat Majumdar IPS (Retd) ex DGP (in jail)

■ Debendranath Biswas IPS (Retd) ex IGP

■ Debnarayan Basu ex DSP (CID)

■ Madhusudan Das ex officer in charge (CID)

■ Dulal Chandra Dey ex officer in charge (anti rowdy section Kolkata Police Detective Dept)

■ Pranab Kumar Barman ex DCP Detective Dept Kolkata Police

The GNN deal stank to high heaven, the SFIO says no diligence was done before investing money with GNN, the agreement between Manoranjana Sinh-owned GNN was one sided as there was no exit clause for Saradha and critically, there was no justification for a consideration amount of Rs 42.50 crore in a TV channel (GNN) which was yet to acquire fixed assets and the money paid was fixed on the basis of the license issued. It appears Sen and Saradha were bamboozled into buying GNN which is borne out by the fact that Sen didn’t follow up on his request for arbitration to Nalini Chidambaram as no reconciliation was done.

Erosion

SFIO in its report goes on to high- light payments to various individu- als and entities. Among the benefi- ciaries East Bengal Club – Rs 3.05 crore, Mithun Chakraborthy now TMC Rajya Sabha MP – Rs 1.88 crore, Kunal Ghosh TMC MP now in jail – Rs 1.77 crore, Mohun Bagan Club Rs 1.41 crore among others. The important thing is that at every twist and turn in the Saradha saga, Trinamool heavyweights pop up. Mamata’s personal integrity remains unimpeachable in my mind’s eye, but a phalanx of TMC politicos involvement with the promoter of Saradha including payments received, begs the question that the TMC was corrupted by Sen. Somewhere in the SFIO report GNN owner Manoranjana Sinh writes to Nalini Chidambaram about the dubiousness of Sudipta Sen (not about the fact that she took advantage of him as well) but she mentions political parties are seeking funding from him since he is flush with cash garnered from his Ponzi schemes.

The hunter is after the quarry, the dominos are falling as the investigation acquires a larger hue. Mamata’s equity is seeing erosion and the BJP and CPM seek political capital. This may well be the beginning of Mamata’s moral corrosion.