Arrest Of Bengali Editor In Ponzi Scam Comes As No Surprise

The arrest of Suman Chattopadhyay, the editor of The Times of India-owned Bengali daily Ei Samay (he has since been removed from the position), by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday (21 December) comes as no surprise to anyone in Bengal. Not only have there been no protests from fellow-journalists and media houses, even politicians like Mamata Banerjee, who cry foul over every move by the central probe agency, have remained silent.

No one is surprised over the arrest because strong rumours have been circulating for some years now about Chattopadhyay’s alleged involvement in the ponzi scam that defrauded millions of investors, mostly poor, across Bengal, Odisha, Assam, and some other states of an estimated Rs 50,000 crore. If anything, there is surprise only over why it took so long for the CBI to arrest Chattopadhyay.

A postgraduate in history from the prestigious Presidency College, Chattopadhyay joined Bengali daily Aaj Kaal as a reporter in 1981 before moving to Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP), the largest circulated Bengali daily, where he rose through the ranks fast to become its executive editor. He became the executive producer of Star Ananda (now ABP Ananda), a joint venture between the ABP group and Star, in 2005 before quitting the group to join Bengali TV channel Kolkata TV.

Chattopadhyay subsequently launched his own media house – Disha Productions & Media Ltd – that owned Disha, a Bengali magazine, and Ek Din, a Bengali newspaper. When the Times of India group launched its Bengali daily Ei Samay in 2012, he became its executive editor.

It was after he quit ABP Ananda and launched his media group that he allegedly got involved with iCore and other chit-fund companies like Saradha. According to the CBI, Chattopadhyay received crores of rupees from iCore in his company’s (Disha Productions) as well as his personal accounts. The central agency, which has been probing the chit fund scam that unfolded in Bengal in 2013, has reportedly found that Chattopadhyay took a ‘loan’ of Rs 5 crore from Saradha and then collected another Rs 16 crore from iCore and another ponzi firm to repay the Saradha loan with interest.

These transactions, says the CBI, amount to money laundering and ‘round-tripping’ of money by creating bogus companies and routing money illegally through them via multiple transactions involving overseas bank accounts.

But rumours about Chattopadhyay’s personal wealth, which was reportedly not commensurate with his known sources of income, were in circulation even before he started his media house. Though very successful and well-known, there have been whispers about his integrity. Allegations have been levelled about Chattopadhyay benefiting from his proximity to politicians and bureaucrats in high places. He is suspected to have amassed a fortune and allegedly not all of it through legal means.

Apart from his involvement in the murky ponzi scam, Chattopadhyay was also a director of the Global Automobile group, whose owner Santanu Ghosh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Ghosh is also allegedly linked to a Rs 80 crore bank fraud that is being probed by the ED. That probe is nearly complete and, according to ED sources, Chattopadhyay was involved in the questionable Rs 52 crore deal involving the acquisition of the heavily indebted automobile company by Saradha.

Chattopadhyay sold the magazine Disha for Rs 2 crore even though it had a negative net worth of Rs 7.28 crore. The central agencies find this deal murky as well, and believe that the sale was another case of money-laundering and an illegal transaction. Chattopadhyay is said to have retained Ek Din.

According to a CBI officer involved in the investigations, Chattopadhyay allegedly used his influence as a senior journalist to broker murky deals between owners of chit fund companies. There have been many rumours of Chattopadhyay using his position and proximity to politicians to help businesspersons, allegedly in return for material gain.

Chattopadhyay had been questioned by the CBI and the ED many times in the past. Even his wife Kasturi was grilled by the ED last week; she reportedly told the investigators she merely did what her husband asked her to do. During the series of interrogations, Chattopadhyay is learnt to have denied any wrongdoing, but had also reportedly refused to cooperate with the investigators and share information with them. His alleged non-cooperation and refusal to answer questions led to his arrest, said the CBI officer.

Chattopadhyay, though he claims to be impartial, was seen as close to some senior Congress leaders in New Delhi and, later, he developed close links with the Trinamool Congress. But he has been a steadfast critic of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and, allege many, the Bengal government exercised control over him because of his involvement with the owners of chit fund companies and his financial deals with them.

Chattopadhyay’s many tweets show him as a BJP-baiter and an ardent supporter of the Congress. His Facebook accounts (this and this), to which he had provided links on his Twitter profile, are, however, suddenly inactive.

The ponzi scam broke out in 2013 and rocked Bengal. The chit fund companies are alleged to have given a lot of the money (collected from depositors with the promise of windfall returns) to politicians, allegedly belonging to the Trinamool Congress, to fund their election campaigns in the 2011 assembly polls that brought the Trinamool to power in Bengal.

Many senior Trinamool leaders had been arrested for their involvement in the scam. The ponzi firm reportedly floated media companies to help the Trinamool during and after the polls. It is alleged that Chattopadhyay got deeply involved in all this.

Though Chattopadhyay is a well-known name in Bengal and has occupied the senior-most positions in two leading Bengali newspapers (Anandabazar Patrika and Ei Samay) as well as the ABP Ananda news channel, the fact that no tears were shed over his arrest and not even a feeble protest made speaks volumes of the widespread negative perception about him.