Salim's black money salvo at TMC

TT, Raiganj, Nov. 17: Amid the chaos over currency notes in the country, a battle broke out in Bengal between the CPM and the Trinamul after Mohammad Salim, the CPM MP from Raiganj, accused the Trinamul of using the Raiganj Central Cooperative Bank network to park black money of party leaders.

Salim today said that he would raise the issue in the current session of Parliament and had written to the state cooperation department as well as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to investigate the matter.

In an attempt to buttress his claim, the CPM politburo member also pointed out that the volume of deposits in the co-operative bank over the last few days had outstripped that of the State Bank of India in the district. "This is unthinkable and there is some mischief," said Salim.

The bank authorities held a press conference today and slammed Salim saying his charges were baseless and politically motivated before threatening legal action.

The bank authorities, however, could not fully explain the sudden spurt in deposits after the Centre announced its decision to discontinue Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

A press release issued by the bank authorities today said it had 19 branches, three of which were in adjoining South Dinajpur district.

The note also mentioned that the daily deposits on an average was around Rs 1.6 crore. The cooperative bank has 16,640 customers. According to information provided to the RBI by the bank, Rs 58.21 crore had been deposited between November 10 and 13.

The deposit volume stood out as sources in the SBI, the biggest commercial bank in the country, said their total deposit on those four days was Rs 24 crore from 38 branches.

Masud Mohammad, the chairman of the bank's managing committee, however, was unfazed and said all the deposits were legitimate.

(From top) The Raiganj Central Cooperative Bank; Masud Mohammad (centre) speaks at the news conference on Thursday and CPM MP Mohammad Salim. (Nantu Dey)

"Of the Rs 58.21 crore, Rs 5. 15 crore were loan repayments, Rs 12.33 crore have been deposited by co-operative societies," Masud said.

Debunking Salim's claims, Masud said: "In 2015, Trinamul started running the Raiganj Central Cooperative Bank after it was under the Left Front for decades. We strictly adhere to RBI guidelines in our transactions in all branches. We have accounts of 195 farmers' co-operative societies and each of them have several hundred members."

"Our deposits are far higher than any nationalised bank. After demonetisation, people want to deposit money more than they usually do. That is why our deposits have increased... The MP is resorting to cheap politics," he added.

Asked why the deposit at his bank had gone up by more than nine times the daily average, Masud kept on saying it was due to the people's rush to deposit cash.

While Masud's argument cannot be debunked theoretically, the logic surprised a Calcutta-based economist.

"A nine-fold increase in volume of deposit and that too in a co-operative bank that has primarily rural depositors sounds a bit surprising," said the economist, who did not wish to be named.

Speaking over the phone from Delhi, Salim welcomed the bank's decision to take him to court.

The MP then went on to add how Trinamul goons were desperate to take over the control of the bank and chased away Left voters during the elections to the managing committee of the Raiganj Central Cooperative Bank.

"Trinamul had used guns and bombs during the elections in front of the district collectorate to prevent Left voters from casting their votes. I had asked why the ruling party was resorting to violence to take control of the bank. Today, it is plain to me. The black money held by Trinamul leaders and their henchmen have been parked in the bank," he said before stressing his demand for an RBI inquiry.

North Dinajpur Trinamul president Amal Acharjee did not take calls from this paper.

Tilak Chowdhury, the Trinamul observer for Raiganj, said: "Salim's charges are baseless and vindictive. His comments have misled the account-holders. The bank functions with full compliance to the RBI rules."