Former Food Minister Jyotipriya Mallick was arrested in the early hours of Friday in the alleged scam.
Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP’s Leader of the Opposition, who had defected from the TMC three years ago, has written to the Enforcement Directorate asking the agency to probe the role of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the ration distribution scam in which the former Food Minister Jyotipriya Mallick was arrested in the early hours of Friday.
In his letter to the ED Director, which he also tweeted, Adhikari alleged that Mamata Banerjee did not reappoint Mallick as the Food and Civil Supplies Minister in 2021 “as she wanted to save him from the glare of Central Investigation Agencies, after engaging in mountainous corruption for a decade as the Food & Supplies Minister from 2011 to 2021.”
“However, she wanted him to keep raising funds illegally and hand over the share of the proceeds to intended persons.
“So as a way out she appointed him as the Chairman of the West Bengal Essential Commodities Supply Corporation (WBECSC); the company which is entrusted with the procurement & distribution of paddy & other food grains in WB.
“She didn’t stop at this only. To ensure that siphoning of funds is done smoothly and efficiently, she appointed A.Subbiah; a retired IAS officer, as the MD of the West Bengal Essential Commodities Supply Corporation (WBECSC) to facilitate Jyotipriya Mallick,” wrote Adhikari.
Adhikari pointed out that Subbiah was a West Bengal-cadre officer of the 1992 batch. A case against Subbiah was filed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Chennai, in 2012 for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 8 crore when he was the Chairman of V.O. Chidambaranar Port, formerly Tuticorin Port. And this officer had been charge-sheeted by the CBI for masterminding a scam as the Acting Chairman of the Tuticorin Port Trust. Permission has also been granted for his prosecution. As a result, his promotion to the rank of Additional Chief Secretary was blocked and his pension was withheld.
Adhikari pointed out the culpability of the Chief Minister in appointing Subbiah. “She is the Minister-in-Charge of the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department. It wouldn’t have been possible for A. Subbiah; a tainted & charge-sheeted retired officer, whose pension has been withheld and who is being prosecuted for corruption, to be appointed as Managing Director of WBECSC, if the CM didn’t want it personally,” he wrote. Adhikari also held a press conference in which he repeated his charges.