Saradha scam: ED allows East Bengal club to open new account

ED maintains no question of reopening the accounts where money from Saradha group was transferred

Marred in the multi-crore Saradha scam and staring at a bleak future, Kolkata’s premier football club got a fresh lifeline on Tuesday. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has finally allowed the club to open a new bank account so that the salaries of the players can be paid and normal activities can be restored.

ED froze the account of the club last month while attaching properties of the beneficiaries in the Saradha scam.

“ We requested the authorities numerous times to de-freeze the accounts because the club was facing severe financial crunch, though our demand was not met but we were allowed to open a new account, now we can pay the salaries of the players,” said Pranab Das Gupta, president, Kingfisher United East Bengal Club Pvt Ltd.

According to him, the money received from the Saradha group was following a sponsorship deal and there was nothing illegal about it. “ We tried to explain our position numerous times to the authority,” he said.

While permission was granted to open a new account, there was no question of reopening the accounts where money from Saradha group was transferred. ED officials had earlier said that once an account is locked, it could not be reopened till the investigation was closed.

Pranab Das Gupta said sponsors would be asked to transfer money to the new account and the club will shortly come out with an official announcement regarding the change of account details.

East Bengal’s city rival Mohun Bagan’s account was also frozen last month. When contacted, Anjan Mitra, general secretary of the club said, “We are optimistic that the authorities will allow us to reopen the account.” The ED is running a parallel investigation in the Saradha scam along with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In August CBI had arrested East Bengal official Debabrata Sarkar, for his alleged role in the scam. On Tuesday, the central investigation agency summoned transport minister Madan Mitra, senior Congress leader Soumen Mitra and Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Srinjoy Bose for questioning in connection with the multi-crore scam.