A small office at the end of the hallway in a dimly lit corner of an old decrepit building in central Calcutta doesn’t usually draw much attention. But looks can be deceptive: behind the stark façade nestles a world of lucre.

Welcome to the registered office of Avees Trading & Finance Pvt Ltd — one of the hidden gems of the city, tucked away from prying eyes on the first floor of Waterloo Mansion. The company, which shares the registered office with two other entities, is one of the top buyers of the controversial electoral bonds in India.

Data collated from disclosures made by the State Bank of India and available on the website of the Election Commission pegs Avees’s total contribution at Rs 112.5 crore, spread over four financial years, starting from the financial year 2019-20.

When this newspaper visited the office of Avees on Friday afternoon, there was no one on the premises. A collapsible gate was locked even though the wooden and glass door behind the collapsible was ajar with the flicker of a tubelight inside. A knock on the door elicited no response.

The Telegraph then decided to visit the office of Technical Associates Infrapower Limited, the parent company of Avees. The one-room office in British India Street, about 200 metres from Waterloo Mansion, had four people busy making last-minute trades on the bourses.

It turned out to be a branch office of Ortem Securities Pvt Ltd, which has rented one cabin to Technical Associates. At the request of this newspaper, one of the officials present there rang up Bhal Chandra Khaitan, who happens to be the director of both Technical Associates and its wholly owned subsidiary, Avees.

“He (Khaitan) is now an old man and comes to office infrequently. He was not feeling well and left early today,” said the Ortem official, after speaking to Khaitan. This correspondent requested the Ortem official to inform Khaitan that the newspaper wanted to speak with him.

Later, the newspaper managed to locate a number that apparently belonged to Khaitan. A slightly irritable elderly person at the other end of the line said he wasn’t the person we wanted to speak with and asked not to be disturbed.

Numbers speak

Although none of the directors on the board of Avees could be reached for comment, the annual financial statements available with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) speak volumes.

Avees has a modest balance sheet that is completely at odds with its colossal bond purchases, raising questions about where the money came from and whether it was acting as a front for political contributions through the bonds that promised complete anonymity until the Supreme Court ripped away the masks from donors.

In FY20, FY22 and FY23, Avees bought electoral bonds worth Rs 24 crore, Rs 15 crore and Rs 13 crore, respectively. It has purchased Rs 60.5 crore worth of electoral bonds in the current fiscal.

The company contributed Rs 53 crore to the Congress, Rs 45.5 crore to Trinamul, Rs 10 crore to AAP, Rs 3 crore to the Biju Janata Dal and Rs 1 crore to the BJP.

In FY20, there was an entry of Rs 29.2 crore as “donation subscriptions” to the expense account of the company even though there was no mention of bond purchases. Avees did not earn revenues from operations in any of the years reviewed by this newspaper. However, in each of the years, it had an entry under the head “other income”. In FY20, the company earned other income worth Rs 8.36 crore and posted a loss of Rs 51.5 crore on the back of high expenses.

In FY22, Avees earned Rs 14.02 crore as “other income” and spent Rs 15 crore as “donation subscriptions”. It posted a loss of Rs 6.97 crore in that fiscal.

Similarly, it made “donation subscriptions” of Rs 13 crore while earning an income of Rs 6.37 crore in FY23. Consequently, it posted a loss of Rs 27.15 crore in that fiscal.

Avees is just one in a warren of small finance firms located in the narrow streets of central Calcutta that play a critical role in funnelling cash that greases the wheels of commerce across the country.

“If a company does not have any active business operation or significant assets and there is no clarity on its earnings, it could very well be used for purposes such as obscuring ownerships, tax evasion or even making political donations on behalf of individuals or companies.

“There is no requirement for a company to make a profit for donating to political parties following amendments to the Companies Act in 2017,” said a city-based chartered accountant.