Cracking open the shells of Kolkata's 'paper firms'

With enforcement agencies hot on trail of shell cos, city is no longer the Mecca of parallel banking

Namrata Acharya  |  Kolkata 

For the past three years, some of the young officers at the investigation wing in charge of shell companies in Kolkata had a hectic schedule. Beyond working hours, much of their time was spent conducting raids in remote locations and rummaging through layers of financial transactions. In one instance, the department chased a money trail which ran up to 200 layers of companies. The investigations came with an element of thrill, too. Something like a Stasi-era Soviet vigil, with even the indescribable tea seller being watched for being a suspected messenger to the culprits. In ...

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