SHILLONG, Oct 3: The Trinamool Congress claimed there are discrepancies in the annual audited financials submitted by the National People’s Party (NPP) to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in 2020-2021.
“As of 31st March, 2020, the NPP had fixed ‘tangible assets’ (i.e. lands, etc) worth Rs 1.31 lakh. Then, as of 31st March, 2021, the NPP declared fixed tangible assets worth Rs 69.66 lakh and their rent amounted to Rs 8.28 lakh. The amount for the previous year was Rs 5.26 lakh,” Trinamool’s national spokesman Saket Gokhale said, in yet another attack on the party.
In addition, he continued, “In the period between 31st March, 2020 to 31st March, 2021, the NPP was allotted 10,000 sq. ft. of land by the Revenue department for their new office located near the Polo Ground at Golf Links in Shillong and simultaneously, the NPP inaugurated new office buildings in Tura and Imphal, Manipur during 2020-21.”
The Trinamool leader said regardless of whether the land is purchased or allotted, it becomes an “asset” on the balance sheet after allocation or purchase.
“Therefore, as of 31st March, 2021, the NPP had claimed in their audited financial report submitted to the Election Commission of India that the combined value of the 3 assets was Rs 69.66 lakh,” Gokhale said.
He said if the average land rate at Golf Links is around Rs 5,500 to Rs 10,000 per sq. ft. then the price of 10,000 sq. ft. of land allotted to the NPP office would be Rs 5.5 crore to Rs 10 crore.
It is unfathomable that the three land parcels in question in Shillong, Tura and Imphal are worth only Rs 69.66 lakh, he said.
“If the NPP claims that the offices in Tura and Imphal are rented and not owned, let us go back and look at the amount of ‘rent paid’ as declared in their audited financial reports…
“The NPP claims to be paying Rs 8.28 lakh in rent. Therefore, if the offices in Tura and Imphal are rented, NPP claims to be paying Rs 8.28 lakh annually which comes to Rs 69,000 per month. It would be a miracle of sorts if NPP is actually claiming that the monthly rent for 2 large offices in Tura and Imphal amounts to Rs 69,000 per month,” the TMC leader said.
He hit out at the NPP for not filing its expenditure report for the 2018 Assembly elections and said it was in violation of rules which require the party to have filed it within 75 days of the polls.
He said the Trinamool’s Meghalaya unit will reach out to the ECI and demand a probe into the huge disparity between the actual assets of the NPP and its declaration to the Commission.
