CPI(M) admits error on bank account

'There is absolute transparency in the accounts and the same had been appreciated several times by Election Commission in the past when we had filed returns,' Biman Bose said

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West Bengal CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose today admitted that the party had erred in keeping its funds in bank accounts in his name and that of another Politburo member and rubbished allegations of lack of transparency by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

'There is absolute transparency in the accounts and the same had been appreciated several times by Election Commission in the past when we had filed returns,' Bose said here today clarifying his position on the allegations about lack of transparency in accounts and having Rs 16 crore in his and Nirupam Sen's name in the bank.

'These accounts are of the CPI-M state committee and not of us,' he said and blamed the bank for its failure to raise questions on the accounts.

'In 2001, when Shailen Dasgupta died we had referred the name of Nirupam Sen to the bank in a letter pad of the party. The bank should have also raised the issue and objected but they did not,' Bose said.

However, the account should have been in the party's name and on June 19 CPI-M had decided to correct it. The state committee accounts were thereafter transfered in the party's name.

On the deposit of Rs 16 crore in the account, Bose said the party state committee got Rs 45 lakh alone from the monthly levy collected from party members. This apart it also got levy from MPs, MLAs besides money from special fund raising activities.

Referring to his own financial condition, Bose said Canadian authorities had once denied him visa for lack of individual account and PAN card in his name.

The visa was later approved and he had received his PAN card now.