| Saturday , January 17 , 2015 |
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150117/jsp/frontpage/story_8884.jsp#.VLn3-tKUeSo
TRINETRA TROVE Behind the Rs 1.4cr that flowed to Trinamul lies a humble room |
| Meghdeep Bhattacharyya |
 The locked Room 209 on British India Street in central Calcutta, which is the official address of Trinetra Consultant Pvt Ltd. Pictures by Bishwarup Dutta The company that has made the biggest recorded contribution to the Trinamul Congress last year works out of a room that has "not been unlocked" for months and it shares space with three other firms. In spite of such modest appearances, Trinetra Consultant Pvt Ltd managed to contribute Rs 1.40 crore to Trinamul in 2013-14, according to information filed by party general secretary Mukul Roy. There's more to the incredible success story of Trinetra: the company made the big contribution although its net profit was a measly Rs 13,589 in 2014 and it suffered a loss of Rs 4,121 in 2013, according to a copy of the "directors' report" of the company. If such a humble company can punch so far above its weight and shower Rs 1.40 crore on the ruling party, what more evidence does anyone need to prove that business is booming in Mamata's Bengal? At a media conference on January 8, BJP leader Sidharth Nath Singh had referred to Trinetra's donation to Trinamul and raised several questions. Since then, The Telegraph has been trying to independently collect information on the company and the donation. The following is the outcome of that effort.  The letterbox on the ground floor of the British India Street building mentions Trinetra and three other firms The official address of Trinetra is Room No. 209, second floor, 1 British Indian Street. There is a British India (not Indian) Street in the heart of Calcutta, near the Lalit Great Eastern hotel. At 1 British India Street, one of the mailboxes on the ground floor does mention Trinetra under "2nd floor, Room 209". This reporter went to the address twice during office hours on weekdays. On both occasions, the door to Room 209 was locked. People in the building, which houses numerous offices, said on the condition of anonymity that the office had not been unlocked in months. "Nobody has ever seen the office operate, though several companies supposedly have that room as their registered address. No letter ever comes to its ground-floor letterbox. One of the two directors has another office on Kiran Shankar Roy Road. That's all we know," said a person running an office on the same floor. The letterbox attached to the office door has no mention of Trinetra but has a hand-written note featuring the address of another company. The ground-floor letterbox mentions Trinetra, Arion Commercial, Durga Fashions Ltd and Futurespace Consultants LLP. The copy of the "directors' report" says the company is engaged in "single primary business segment viz. consultancy in finance and investment in shares and securities". It adds that "the geographical segmentation is not relevant as the company's activity are (sic) not spread over various geographical locations". The rules Trinamul made the donation public because the Election Commission requires parties to list all amounts in excess of Rs 20,000 in a financial year. In accordance with this rule, Trinamul leader Roy sent an official letter (AITC/GS/ECI/2014/320) to the poll panel on September 25, 2014. In the letter, only one company is mentioned under the head that deals with contributions in excess of Rs 20,000: Trinetra with its Rs 1.40-crore donation. According to Section 293A1(b) of the Companies Act, 1956, no company in existence for less than three financial years can make such a donation. According to corporatedir.com, an online directory, Trinetra was registered on April 25, 2011. Which means that when the company made the contribution on March 31, 2014, it was 25 days short of the three-year mark. Section 293A2(a) of the Act states: "The amounts which may be so contributed by a company in any financial year shall not exceed 5 per cent of the average net profit... during the three immediately preceding years". For being able to make a contribution of Rs 1.40 crore, the company had to make profits of at least Rs 28 crore annually for three preceding fiscal years. During the 2012-13 financial year, the company had registered a loss of Rs 4,121. The performance improved the following year (2013-14) but the net profit was not more than Rs 13,589. The 2011-12 figures are unavailable but the company would have had to make a net profit of nearly Rs 84 crore - and that too in its year of inception - to hit the criterion to make the contribution of Rs 1.40 crore.  The copy of the directors' report of Trinetra says after listing the net profit of Rs 13,589 for 2013-14: "Due to insufficient profit, your directors regret their inability to recommend any dividend." But the same company made a contribution of Rs 1.40 crore to Trinamul. Why it was so important for the company to fill the coffers of a political party at the expense of its own shareholders is a mystery. The people At least five companies hold more than 5 per cent shares in Trinetra. The directors' report has been signed by Manoj Sharma and Sasi Kant Das. According to corporatedir.com, "there are no other active directors/partners in the company except these two officials". When this reporter tried to verify the authenticity of the copy of the directors' report and seek a response, calls to the number mentioned on the letterbox went unanswered. Calls to the audit firm also drew a blank. The original questions were raised by the BJP on January 8, as many as eight days ago. Multiple newspapers carried the allegations but neither Sharma nor Das is known to have responded to the charges levelled by the BJP. The Telegraph will publish the version of Sharma and Das if and when they respond to calls or communicate with the newspaper. When this reporter followed up on a lead on Sharma, who is a director of the Foundation For Health Welfare and Development, at the registered address on Kiran Shankar Roy Road, that office, too, was found under lock and key. "We've never heard of Manoj Sharma. This foundation has never been visibly operational in these two-and-a-half years," said an employee of one of the companies with an office on the floor. A delegation of the state BJP, led by Ashim Sarkar, today lodged a formal complaint with the state chief electoral officer. |
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150117/jsp/frontpage/story_8884.jsp#.VLn3-tKUeSo