Corruption in India - 3

The Indian Government for the past few years, and more so after the post liberalization period after 1991 has been living inside the stomach of the tiger of corruption. Like the lady of Niger, the looters smiled when they rode the tiger. Now they are returning from the ride with the looters inside and a smile on the face of the tiger. The looters aided and abetted the tiger of corruption and shared some of the looted blood and flesh, now there is nothing they can do other than feast on whatever comes their way inside the stomach of the tiger.

The ECONOMIC CONDITION OF INDIA has multiplied by leaps and bounds and is shining brightly, but only for the handful of big time industrialists, politicians and the parasites who feed on them. The condition of the rest of the population varies between leading a comfortable life to death by starvation and malnutrition.

The most discussed issue in the Indian media is the trillions of dollars of ‘blood money ‘stashed away in Swiss Banks and other tax havens and what should be done to bring the loot back. This issue is being debated almost every day, this is a welcome sign. But amongst all this noise, what is the glaring omission is trying to find and punish those who were the end beneficiaries, those who abetted the scams.

Take for example the latest 1.76 cores 2G Spectrum scam. In this particular scam the corporates who benefited are not hiding in Switzerland, they are everywhere for one and all to see. The telecom industrialist and Member of Parliament from Karnataka, Rajeev Chandrasekhar had written an open letter to the Chairman of Tata’s Ratan Tata, accusing the Tata’s of being the single largest beneficiaries of the scam. The loss caused to the exchequer by the Tata’s is said to be Rs 19074.8 crores.

On 27th November 2010, Ratan Tata said that if the government did not step in and uphold the rule of law, there was every possibility that India could slide down the path of becoming a banana republic. I whole heartedly agree with him, it is only in a potential banana republic that scamsters get away scott free with not even a single question being asked. It is only in a potential banana republic that scamsters can take a high moral ground, again not a single question being raised.

Now mums the word as far as the Tata’s are concerned in the media. Ratan Tata who also figures in the Nira Radia tapes scandal has not denied that he caused a loss to the exchequer, but he says that this loss is hypothetical. I would like to ask him a hypothetical question about how many hypothetical starvation and malnutrition deaths could have been avoided had this loss not been caused by him.

In the Hassan Ali case going back to January 2008, Ali is said to have laundered money to the tune of 32 Billion dollars, and documents seized from his residence showed that he held 8.04 Billion in his UBS account. The money disappeared overnight. The Swiss Government spokesman said yesterday that they are unable to help India as the proper procedure has not been followed, and they were awaiting a complete request from India. Now it is clear that Hassan Ali was only a front man, a parking space. But what is mystifying is why the Indian Government is protecting him by hiding behind international treaties and laws, now even the Swiss criminals have exposed them. Will we ever get to know which looter was he a front man for?

Even if Wikileaks exposes Indian accounts in Swiss Banks and other tax havens, we will still have this Government hiding behind something or the other, finding one excuse after the other.