India not-so-shining

Kejriwal gave 10 names who stashed money abroad. But, I don't expect serious government steps to bring the money back.

I have never seen India so deeply immersed in corruption as it is today. At the same time, I have not heard so much criticism of the government before. What I miss is the resistance and someone from the society getting up and calling a spade a spade.

Therefore, I welcome the recent disclosures by social activist Arvind Kejriwal. He has released a list of ten names, including that of a politician and heads of corporate houses. He has also accused a foreign bank of indulging in hawala (money laundering) transactions. It is churlish to counter the charges by asking Kejriwal to produce a written proof. He has named the people and given the amount which they have deposited in Swiss banks. The ball is now in the government’s court. It has all the facilities at its disposal to conduct inquiries to nail the culprits. Those who criticise Kejriwal do not understand the paraphernalia of law.

Scrutiny by due process is understandable but the process is so slow and so manipulated that it is not possible to catch or punish the guilty for years. The government must devise a mechanism whereby allegation of corruption is sifted for a prima facie case within days. However, the response of India’s finance ministry to Kejriwal’s allegations is not, as usual, negative. Instead, it has said that the government is looking into the charges. It has also been announced that the ministry has been in touch with the French government, which originally gave the list of Indians having accounts in Swiss banks.

I hope that the government will pursue the matter of black money seriously and not involve the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which the government usually uses as a delaying tactic. It all now depends on how far the finance minister can resist the pressure which ultimately thwarts every effort to hold the corrupt accountable. Most scams which have come to light are because of investigations by the media or certain individuals. The government has done little. In fact, it has tried to help the culprits.

It is shocking to learn from Kejriwal that a foreign bank in India runs hawala transactions. The Indian government should probe into the working of this bank, lest it should be laundering terrorists’ money or that of the drug mafia. However, I do not expect any serious step being taken by the government to bring back the black money. When there has been no inquiry and much less action against Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, why should those in the corporate sector fear punishment as they contribute generously to the Congress party’s coffers?

The government is mistaken if it believes that the allegations will be forgotten as the time passes. Nor will the public forget that the government has received a list of 700 people which it has not made public. The ruling party may have to pay the price for its complicity in corrupt deals in the next elections for the Lok Sabha.

Strange, the government has not been slackened for its effort to cover up the scams. Since the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) disclosed scams like that involving the sale of the 2G spectrum and ‘Coalgate’, there is a proposal to dilute the institution and have three members instead of one, as is the case now. The CAG is a constitutional body, answerable to parliament alone. Reducing the power of the CAG will amount to constitutional impropriety which the opposition will not take lying down.

The Right to Information (RTI) act has already been stymied by the CBI, which does not part with information in 90 per cent of the cases, on the ground that the information cannot be divulged in public interest. This is a stock phrase which the government uses to block information and it is the crux of the problem.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2012.