Jan Suraaj alleges NDA diverted ₹14,000 crore World Bank funds ahead of Bihar polls
New Delhi: Still recovering from its poor performance in the Bihar Assembly elections, the Prashant Kishor-led Jan Suraaj has levelled serious allegations against the NDA government, claiming that money transferred to women voters under a state scheme may have come from funds originally sanctioned by the World Bank.
Speaking to ANI, Jan Suraaj spokesperson Pavan Verma said the party had information suggesting that the ₹10,000 credited to the accounts of 1.25 crore women voters under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana was drawn from ₹21,000 crore allocated by the World Bank for another project. He alleged that ₹14,000 crore was moved “an hour before the model code of conduct came into force,” though he also admitted that the information “may or may not be true”.
“If this is wrong, I seek forgiveness. But if it is true, the question of ethics arises,” Verma said, adding that governments were capable of reallocating funds and justifying the move after elections.
Verma also claimed that Bihar’s public debt stands at ₹4.06 lakh crore, with a daily interest burden of ₹63 crore. He alleged that the state’s finances were under severe stress and that the “treasury is empty”.
He further said that ahead of voting, rumours had circulated that women who had not yet received the ₹10,000 benefit, around 2.5 crore of the state’s four crore women, might not get the money if the NDA failed to return to power. This, he suggested, had influenced voter behaviour.
Asked whether such welfare transfers had become a decisive factor in the polls, Verma referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s past criticism of “freebies”, noting, “Maybe he said it in the context of Delhi and former CM Arvind Kejriwal. Now what happened in Bihar?”
Verma rejected speculation that Jan Suraaj’s performance was weakened by Prashant Kishor’s earlier stand on lifting the liquor ban if elected. He argued that illegal liquor was available across the state at inflated prices and that the burden ultimately fell on women running households.
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CBI registers fresh case against Reliance Communications, Anil Ambani
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI on Wednesday registered a fresh case against industrialist Anil Ambani and Reliance Communications Ltd for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 3,750 crore to Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, officials said.
The CBI has filed the case for the alleged offences of conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the LIC, making it the fourth case against the company and Anil Ambani, they said.
The agency has alleged that LIC was fraudulently induced to subscribe to Non Convertible Debentures (NCDs) worth Rs. 4500 crore between 2009 and 2012 on the basis of false representations made by Reliance Communications Ltd. and its management regarding the financial health of the company, and security and asset cover offered to LIC while subscribing to the NCDs.
The insurer suffered a loss of over Rs 3,750 crore and ordered a forensic audit against the company.
The forensic audit report dated October 15, 2020, conducted by BDO India LLP, reported that RCOM and its management had resorted to misutilisation of funds raised from banks and financial institutions, routing of funds through subsidiaries, misuse of sale invoice financing, discounting of fictitious bills, systematic siphoning of funds through inter-company deposits/shell related entities, creating and write-off of fictitious debtors and receivables and gross overstatement of security.
It said there was a mismatch between the charges and the assets.
