Plea in SC seeks SIT probe into 'Electoral Bonds scam'

NEW DELHI: Two NGO have jointly moved a plea in the Supreme Court for an SIT probe into alleged pay offs and quid pro quo arrangements between corporates and governments, in conspiracy with investigative and regulatory bodies, as disclosed through data of donations made to political parties through the Electoral Bonds Scheme.

After quashing of the scheme by the top court, NGOs 'Common Cause' and 'Centre for Public Interest Litigation' through advocate Prashant Bhushan has sought a direction to the authorities to investigate the source of funding of "shell companies and loss-making companies which made donations to various political parties, as has been disclosed by the data released by the EC.

The plea also sought a direction to the authorities to recover the money donated by companies as part of "quid pro quo arrangements where these are found to be proceeds of crime".

It claimed the bulk of the bonds appeared to have been given as quid pro quo arrangements by corporates to political parties for getting contracts or licences or leases or clearances or approvals worth thousands and sometimes lakhs of crores.

"In some instances, it has been seen that the political parties in power at the centre or in states have apparently amended policies and/or laws to provide benefits to private corporates at the cost of public interest and the public exchequer," it said.

On PILs by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms and others, the Supreme Court's five-judge Constitution bench had on February 15 quashed the Electoral Bonds scheme and directed the SBI to provide all the data related to it to the Election Commission for uploading on its website.

It was revealed that electoral bonds worth about Rs 16,518 crore were encashed by the political parties.

Terming the scheme as a scam, the plea said it needs to be investigated by a Special Investigation Team of sitting or retired officers of impeccable integrity and working under the supervision of a retired judge of this court.

The plea alleged electoral bonds were given in close proximity to action by agencies like the ED/IT/CBI raising suspicion of it being “protection” money or "bribe" to avoid or stall action by or in exchange for regulatory inaction by various regulators like the drug controller etc or as a consideration for favourable policy changes.

"Though these apparent pay offs amount to several thousand crores, they also appear to have allowed substandard or dangerous drugs to be sold in the market, endangering the lives of millions of people in the country," the plea claimed.

The plea also stated in several cases, the donations appear to have been made in blatant violation of the regulatory framework governing contributions by companies to political parties.

Claiming violation of Section 182(1) of the Companies Act, it claimed the data disclosed on electoral bonds, showed that at least 20 companies bought electoral bonds within three years of their incorporation.

"The donation by such companies total more than Rs 100 crores. In some cases, the companies were just a few months old when they purchased bonds, in flagrant violation of the provisions of the Companies Act," it said.

The plea stated data further showed that various loss-making companies and shell companies donated huge sums to political parties through electoral bonds and in this way, laundered money has found its way into the coffers of the political parties.

"Data suggests that the introduction of electoral bonds led to the mushrooming of shell companies, which were used by corporate houses as conduits to launder illicit money," the plea alleged.

The plea said unlike the 2G Scam or the Coal Scam, where allocations of spectrum and coal mining leases were arbitrarily made, and did not have money trail, yet this court ordered court-monitored investigations in both those cases, appointed special public prosecutors and formed special courts to deal with those cases.

It said the investigation would not only need to unravel the entire conspiracy but also probe the officers concerned of agencies like the ED/IT and CBI etc who appear to have become part of this conspiracy.