School Jobs for Cash: Calcutta High Court denies bail to former minister Partha Chatterjee

The Calcutta High Court recently refused to grant bail to West Bengal's former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee in a money laundering case connected to the school jobs for cash scam [Partha Chatterjee vs Enforcement Directorate]..Single-judge Justice Tirthankar Ghosh noted that moveable and immovable assets (cash and jewellery) to the tune of ₹ 54.88 crores were seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from premises connected to Chatterjee."I have taken into account the materials available in the instant case, particularly, the seizures, which were effected both in respect of the movable and immoveable assets, the consistent version of the witnesses under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act as well as the corroborating materials which establishes the relationship between Partha Chatterjee and Aripta Mukherjee, which demonstrates trust, faith and confidence from both the sides, as the petitioner is the nominee in the bank account and insurance policies and the immoveable properties which have been purchased through different companies were in the name of Arpita Mukherjee," the Court said.Thus, the statement (of co-accused Arpita Mukherjee) which points to the cash seizures and jewellery from the two flats (linked to Partha Chatterjee) do not at this stage create any circumstance in favour of the petitioner to overcome the twin conditions under Section 45 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the single-judge added.In response to the contention that Chatterjee has been under detention for 21 months, the court referred to the observations of the Supreme Court in the cases of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Kumar Jain."The right to speedy trial and access to justice is a valuable right as enshrined in the Constitution of India and the provisions of section 436A of the CrPC both applies to cases under the provisions of the PMLA, 2002 subject to the provisions and the explanations provided therein. The petitioner would definitely be entitled to the right under the relevant provisions when the conditions of the said provisions are satisfied," the judge opined.With these observations, the Court dismissed the bail plea..The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had, while opposing the bail plea, relied on various orders of the Calcutta High Court which said that the entire process of recruitment of assistant primary teachers were done illegally and for extraneous considerations. The anti-money laundering agency had further contended that both Chatterjee and Mukherjee were involved in the commission of the offence of money laundering, by indulging in criminal conspiracy for illegally giving jobs to teachers in primary schools against bribe amount and generating huge proceeds of crime.The Court found merit in the submissions of the ED and therefore, rejected Chatterjee's bail plea..Senior Advocate Sandipan Ganguly along with Advocates Ayan Poddar, Manaswita Mukherjee, Soham Dutt and Soumen Paul appeared for Partha Chatterjee.Advocates Phiroze Edulji and Anamika Pandey represented the ED..[Read Judgment]