Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal came back today with the latest round of corruption exposes and targeted country’s leading industrialists, a Congress MP and multinational HSBC Bank.
Accusing the HSBC Bank of indulging in money laundering, Kejriwal claimed Ambani brothers, Naresh Goyal and Congress MP Annu Tandon had parked their black money in its Geneva branch.
Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal and lawyer Prashant Bhushan alleged around Rs 6,000 crore black money was lying in 700 accounts of the Geneva branch of the bank.
They claimed that people who had deposited "small amounts of money" in the bank were raided but "big fish" like Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Naresh Goyal (Jet Airways), Tandon and Burmans (Anand, Pradeep and Ratan) of Dabur were “let off” at the behest of the government.
“Developments of the last few years suggest that had the Indian Government acted tough, it could have got access to the list of those having their undeclared accounts abroad. However, the Indian Government seems to be more interested in helping the guilty rather than punishing them,” said Kejriwal.
Demanding details of all 700 persons in the list, he said “They should be arrested if they are found prima facie guilty to have sent their money abroad through hawala”.
Kejriwal’s allegations received a favourable echo from the BJP, which saw it as an opportunity to embarrass the grand old party on its “Samvad Baithak” day.
Asking the government to make public details of such individuals and entities public, BJP party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the party had been raising the issue of black money since the 2009 General Election but done nothing to curb the practice.
Interestingly, Kejriwal credited today's expose to a senior Congress leader. He claimed the “Congress whistle-blower” gave him details of 10 influential Indians.
The activists claimed that the Ambani brothers had Rs 100 crore each, Reliance Group's Motech Software Rs 2,100 crore, Annu Tandon and her husband late Sandeep Rs 125 crore each, Naresh Goyal Rs 80 crore and Dabur's Burman brothers Rs 25 crore in the list of around 700 people having accounts in HSBC as of 2006. He wanted the bank’s top officials to be immediately arrested under the Prevention of Money laundering Act and urged the 32,000 Indian employees to quit job for the sake of the country. He also demanded the HSBC’s operations to be immediately suspended in India.
Kejriwal also accused President Pranab Mukherjee of protecting heavyweights like Mukesh Ambani.
Mukesh Ambani’s company and a spokesperson for Anil Ambani refuted the charges.
Activist’s charge
HSBC Bank is indulging in money laundering The Ambani brothers had `100 crore each, Reliance Group's Motech Software `2,100 crore, MP Annu Tandon and her husband late Sandeep `125 crore each, Naresh Goyal `80 crore and Dabur's Burman brothers `25 crore stashed in the bank’s Geneva branch
The Indian Government seems to be more interested in helping the guilty rather than punishing them
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