I-Core chit fund case: CBI team questions Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee

Kolkata, Sep 13: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday questioned West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee for nearly two hours in connection with his alleged involvement in the I-Core ponzi scam, sources in the probe agency said.

A three-member CBI team questioned Chatterjee, also a senior Trinamool Congress leader, in his Camac Street office.

"I told them whatever I had to say. I hope they are satisfied with the answers," he told reporters after the questioning. Chatterjee was allegedly seen in some of the public functions organised by the now-defunct I-Core which was charged with duping investors by offering them abnormally high returns on investments.

Like Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund companies, I-Core raised money from the public by several fraudulent schemes floated by it.

The economic offences wing of the CBI had asked Chatterjee to appear before its officials on September 13 at the CGO Complex office of the central agency. The TMC secretary general, however, pleaded that he be interrogated at his office since he is busy with other preoccupations, CBI sources said.

Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also served a notice to the minister in the same ponzi scam. The CBI had taken over the investigation of Saradha and other ponzi scam cases on the orders of the Supreme Court on May 9, 2014.