Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday lashed out at the Enforcement Directorate claiming that the national agency has an “unparalleled talent for disseminating concocted tales to the media on a bi-weekly basis”.

Banerjee, who is also the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, elaborated that the agency has a paltry conviction rate of 0.5 per cent.

Abhishek Banerjee, who is the National General Secretary of Trinamool Congress, is being investigated by the central probe agency as part of the alleged coal smuggling probe.

“It is truly disheartening to behold the presence of inept and incompetent individuals within the ranks of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), who possess an unparalleled talent for disseminating concocted tales to the media on a bi-weekly basis, all in service of their political benefactors. Regrettably, despite investing years and spending taxpayers’ money into their investigative endeavours they consistently fail to present substantive evidence before the court, thereby clearly neglecting their responsibility to serve the nation,” Banerjee posted on X (formerly Twitter).

“It is worth noting that neither the ED nor the media publications much like the BJP leaders in West Bengal, possess the confidence, courage or conviction to explicitly accuse me in the allegations they espouse. One cannot help but feel empathetic towards these unfortunate and frustrated souls. This leaves us no room for surprise as to why the ED’s conviction rate languishes at a mere 0.5%,” the senior Trinamool leader added.

The BJP was quick to denounce Banerjee’s comments as “lecture”, adding there’s an effort to stop investigations against “institutional corruption”.

“There is an effort to stop the probes against institutional corruption. The people of West Bengal have no faith in any lecture by any Trinamool Congress leader. The people have rejected the Trinamool Congress. Trinamool and Corruption has become synonymous and in the coming elections the people will send them home,” said BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya responding to the Trinamool leader’s post.

The Trinamool has been critical of the BJP alleging that the party has been using state machinery, especially central investigation agencies, to target political opponents in Opposition-ruled states.

Abhishek Banerjee has been questioned by both the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Both Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee have hit back saying the agencies are acting at the behest of the BJP.

The BJP has maintained that the agencies have only been doing their jobs and investigating corruption.



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