ED probes TMC's ₹5.22 crore advance for aviation services

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate is examining advance payments totalling ₹5.22 crore made by the Trinamool Congress for aviation services for July, August and September 2026, even though the services covered by the payments had not yet been availed, people in the know told ET.

The finding forms part of the agency's wider examination of the financial transactions between Trinamool Congress and aviation companies and comes amid an ongoing probe into the alleged routing and utilisation of party funds through Carewell Aviation India Pvt Ltd. According to people quoted above, the party released advance payments aggregating ₹5.22 crore towards aviation services for three months. The agency has recorded that the corresponding services had not been availed at the time of its account analysis. The payment is significant in the context of ED's wider investigation into the party's aviation expenditure. The agency is examining the financial arrangements under which TMC made the payments to Carewell and other aviation companies, including the source of funds, contractual terms, utilisation of aircraft and movement of money between related entities. ED has alleged that TMC transferred about ₹162.09 crore to Carewell Group entities between July 2021 and June 2026. Its investigation has focused, among other things, on aircraft and helicopter charter arrangements entered into by the party with Carewell Aviation. Under an aircraft charter agreement executed in April 2023, TMC paid an interest-free refundable security deposit of ₹60 crore. A separate helicopter charter agreement executed in March 2025 involved another refundable deposit of ₹28.5 crore, taking the total deposits to ₹88.5 crore.

The agency is examining these arrangements alongside the subsequent movement of funds through the Carewell group. ED's account analysis also records that ₹133.84 crore received by Carewell was subsequently layered into newly-incorporated related entity Carewell Flyjet IFSC Pvt Ltd in Ahmedabad's GIFT City as inter-corporate loans for the acquisition of an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft and an Agusta 109 Grand New helicopter.


ED is also examining payments made by TMC to aviation companies other than Carewell. Its analysis includes an instance involving a Falcon 2000 chartered from Windborne Aviation, under which TMC agreed to a minimum 150-hour commitment for 60 days but, according to the note, ultimately used the aircraft for only around 11-12 hours while paying approximately ₹9.09 crore.

The 5.22-crore advance payment represents a separate transaction identified in ED's account analysis. It is examining the payment as part of its broader exercise to establish the source, routing and end-use of funds and to understand the commercial terms governing the party's aviation arrangements. Advance payments can arise from contractual arrangements and the ED's investigation into the transaction is continuing. It has frozen six bank accounts of TMC, with balances aggregating about 440 crore, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

TMC has challenged ED's action and disputed the agency's allegations. The investigation into the financial transactions and the parties and entities involved remains underway. ET was the first to report last week that TMC paid substantially more per flying hour for an aircraft operated by Carewell than the average rate charged by the company to its other clients, according to details emerging from ED's probe into the party's bank accounts and its dealings with the aviation firm.