ED attaches assets of Partha Chatterjee, aide

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday said it has attached assets worth £4.62 million "beneficially owned" by former minister Partha Chatterjee and his alleged associate Arpita Mukherjee as part of a money laundering probe in the West Bengal teachers' recruitment 'scam'. The attached properties include 40 immovable assets such as a farmhouse, flats and "prime land" located in Kolkata worth a total £4.03 million, apart from £789,000 worth deposits kept in 35 bank accounts, the federal agency said in a statement. "The attached properties are found to be beneficially owned by Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee," it said. According to the agency, several of the attached properties were registered in the name of shell companies and persons acting as proxies for Chatterjee. The former minister in the TMC-led government in West Bengal and his "close associate" were arrested by the ED in July.