BJP Used Pre-Paid And Post-Paid Routes To Promote Bribery: Congress's Fresh Attack Over Electoral Bonds Scheme

The Congress has attacked the BJP government, accusing it of legalising corruption using electoral bonds. It said that the BJP was employing 4 routes to promote bribery from private the sector.

The Congress on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the BJP, saying that the government is taking "pre-paid, post-paid, extortion, and forgery" routes to encourage corrupt practices using electoral bonds. Explaining the Congress's stand, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said: "We are not against any company. We are targeting the BJP-led Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

Detailing the "bribery", Jairam Ramesh said: "The four routes are chanda do dhanda lo (give donations, take business) or pre-paid bribe, theka lo, ghoos do (take contracts, give bribes) or post-paid bribe, hafta vasooli (extortion), and shell companies and forgery."

Jairam Ramesh said the BJP has "patented" the hafta vasooli route. "This is a post-raid extortion. The government uses central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department to conduct raids and exert pressure on companies to give donations. As many as 41 corporate groups faced a total of 56 ED, CBI and I-T raids. They donated Rs 2,592 crore to BJP. Of these, Rs 1,853 crore were given after the raids."

He further said that out of a total Rs 543 crore donated by shell companies, 16 donated Rs 419 crore to BJP. "These included companies on the Finance Ministry's high-risk watch list for money laundering, companies donating crores within a few months of their formation and companies donating multiple times their paid-up capital," he said.

It needs to be highlighted again and again that the Modi government controls the ED, CBI, and I-T and other agencies, he said. "It is the central government that awards contracts for national highways, railways and other big infrastructure projects. The matched database of electoral bond donors and recipients, when combined with publicly available information on contracts, project clearances, raids and other such incidents, provides a clear example of the legalisation of corruption. This opaque [electoral bonds] scheme ensured that prepaid bribes, postpaid bribes, and even post-raid bribes could be sent through banking channels in the form of electoral bonds."

"The Prime Minister who had guaranteed to 'bring back black money', legalised corruption after coming to power and tried his best to hide it," Jairam Ramesh said.