Seizure of ₹1 crore: ‘Money was taken to bank on direction of I-T department’, says CPI(M) Thrissur district secretary

Seizure of ₹1 crore: ‘Money was taken to bank on direction of I-T department’, says CPI(M) Thrissur district secretary M.M. Varghese

Coming down against the Income Tax department for seizing ₹1 crore brought to a bank for depositing it in the party’s account, CPI(M) Thrissur district secretary M.M. Varghese has said the money was taken to the bank “as per the direction of the I-T officials.”

Addressing the media in Thrissur on May 1 (Wednesday), he said the I-T department “overstepped their mandate as part of a witch-hunt” against the CPI(M). The party will seek legal recourse to get the money back, he added.

“The district secretary and office secretary of the CPI(M) went to the bank after receiving a notice issued by the assistant director, Thrissur, of the Income Tax department, directing to reach the Thrissur branch of the Bank of India at 3 p.m. on April 30. They asked to bring the ₹1 crore which we withdrew from the bank on April 2. The money was withdrawn for the expenses of the district committee in the wake of the Lok Sabha elections,” said Mr. Varghese.

He said that, however, the I-T department “interpreted” the withdrawal of the money as an illegal activity and froze the account. “They also stopped us from spending the money. Though the I-T department doesn’t have a mandate to restrict us from using the money, we didn’t use it to avoid any controversy,” he claimed.

“A mistake from the part of the bank in entering an erroneous PAN number led to the freezing of the party account, which has been used by the party for the last three decades. The CPI(M) has only one PAN number across the country. All the accounts of the district committee are connected to this number. But the Thrissur branch of the Bank of India entered the PAN erroneously, changing the letter T with J in the number. The district secretary had written to the chairman of the Bank of India about this grievous mistake, which created a lot of controversy. The Bank of India on April 18 sent a letter to the party admitting its mistake,” Mr. Varghese said.

He claimed that the CPI(M) has “only legitimate accounts” in the bank. The source of the money in the account is the membership fee of 48,315 members of the 2,720 branches in the district and the contributions of the people. “We keep accounts for everything. There is nothing to hide for the party,” he said.

“The I-T department has asked us to submit some documents. We will seek legal support to get the money back. There have been efforts to confuse people by creating a smokescreen. This is part of the witch-hunt against the party using the power of the Centre. We will fight against it legally and politically,” he added.