HURTING INTERESTS RIL offer would have cost govt $6.3bn
Panels Rejected Plan To Link KG Gas Cost With Global Rate
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Various committees,not just the oil ministry,rejected petro giant Reliance Industries Ltds (RIL) proposal to link cost of KG gas with the international crude price.The ministry estimated that the tab for states and the Centre adds up to a staggering $6.3 billion. In its report to an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM),then headed by Pranab Mukherjee,the oil ministry set out the financial implications of acceding to the RIL request to hike the price of gas from $4.2 per million metric British thermal unit (MMBTU) to $14.20 - $14.51 per MMBTU. If Reliance honoured the production targets it was projecting,the loss for state governments and the Centre would be around $10.5 billion.Even if gas production remained at the current levels that are under par,the loss would be $6.3 billion. The oil ministry under Jaipal Reddy made the sub-optimal calculation as it felt RIL was depressing production to arm twist the government into accepting a hike in prices as shortage of gas supplies was hurting fertilizer and power units. The dispute with RIL,seen to have led to Reddys exit from the ministry last Sunday,saw the ministry argue that In brief a $10/MMBTU increase in gas price will result in $8.5 billion increase in revenue to the contractor in the next two years and a $1.4 billion increase in revenue to government if production remains constant. The EGoM was told Reliances arguments did not cut ice with committees other than those under the oil ministry.A committee of secretaries said,The RIL formula may be taken up for approval only after a policy is put in place.Prima facie the formula seems to suffer from several infirmities Oil ministry guidelines observed if competitive bidding to discover price of gas is not feasible,the valuation be based in most recent competitive determined price indexed to the present. Asked if government can forgo contractual privilege,Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati said price fixation till April,2014,cannot be ignored.But he added the EGoM can decide on the advisability of price revision as this was not a matter of law,but a matter of policy. Although the A-G left the matter open,oil ministry stuck to its guns as it was also armed with the report of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) that pointed to falling gas production in the KG blocks as apart from 2009-10 targets were not met in 2010-11 and 2011-12. The DGH observed that there has been an underutilization of facilities since the second year,of the 31 well envisaged,only 18 were completed and of these 14 were in operation.Four wells drilled in 2010-11 and 2011-12 have not been connected,and non-compliance has resulted in less production.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted two more months to the income tax department to transcribe the entire intercepted telephone conversations of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia. A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya said that the department must place the transcript of entire 5,800 conversations,running into more than hundred hours,on January 8. Complete the exercise in two months.Not possible to give you more time, the bench said after the Additional Solicitor General A S Chandhiok,appearing for the department,sought four months time. In the meanwhile,the department informed the court that it has so far transcribed 52.7 hours of conversation and placed the transcript in a sealed envelope. The Court,however,did not go through the transcript and said that it would do so after the department would place the entire transcript before it and granted two more months to the department to complete the task. The conversations were recorded as part of surveillance of Radia's phone on a complaint to finance minister on November 16,2007 alleging that within a span of nine years she had built up a business empire worth Rs 300 crore. The government had recorded 180 days of Radias conversations--first from August 20,2008 onwards for 60 days and then from October 19 for another 60 days.Later on May 11,2009.Her phone was again put on surveillance for another 60 days following a fresh order given on May 8.PTI
CVC seeks clarity on mandate to probe political corruption
PTI
To take action against the political hierarchy, or the higher echelons in the executive more clarity is required in law, it says
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has sought “more clarity” in a legislation governing its mandate in probing complaints of corruption against politicians or civil servants.
Vigilance Commissioner R Srikumar also said there was no uniformity across the states on the issue of handing over complaints to CBI for probe in corruption cases.
“The Central Vigilance Commission can regulate its own procedure as per the CVC Act but on taking action against the political hierarchy, or the higher echelons in the executive and taking up suo motu inquiries, more clarity is required in law,” he said.
The CVC, which was set up in 1964, acts as a statutory body to check graft and advise central government on anti-graft related matters.
The anti-corruption watchdog functions through Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003 which empowers the CVC to take action against central government officials in cases coming under Prevention of Corruption Act.
“There is no uniformity across the States for the CBI to take up cases; the State Government has the power to withdraw its consent and concurrence and this has often occurred in the past -- Karnataka, the State where I served as DGP, being one such example,” he said without elaborating.
It is pertinent to mention that the Madhya Pradesh government, through a Gazette notification, has recently barred CBI from probing IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service officers of the state cadre on corruption and other criminal charges.
Audit Body Calls For Transparency;UPA Says Rai Was Part Of Same Govt Till 2008
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Gurgaon: Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai,whose recent reports have kicked up a storm over several UPA moves,on Wednesday went public with concerns over the brazenness with which decisions were taken,resulting in a fresh war of words with the government. The brazenness (with which) decisions were being taken is actually appalling, Rai said at the World Economic Forum meeting and added that with more transparency,the government will become more accountable. It was not just his comment on overall decision-making that would have upset the government.Rai suggested that several institutions such as the proposed Lokpal,the Central Vigilance Commission and the Central Bureau of Investigation should be made constitutional entities,shielding them from government interference.Rai said CBI was often written about as not being independent and acting as a handmaiden of the government. The ruling Congress,which has in the past blamed CAG of overstepping its brief,shot back immediately.If he (Rai) talks about brazenness in decision-making and if it refers to the time-period of this particular government,I think it would be worth his while to recall that he was part of the same government from 2004 to 2008, information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said. Rai is a former financial services secretary and was part of the IAS before taking over as the federal auditor.And I guess,when he talks about brazenness,that paradigm equally applies across the board to everyone who was part of the government, Tewari added. The combative Rai called upon citizen groups to grab the initiative to tackle corruption.Why do we leave it to (the) government alone to introduce accountability and probity Leaving it to government has not succeeded.Citizen groups must empower themselves and ensure that government lives in glass houses but (ensure) that such transparency applies to corporations also, he said. Over the past two years,CAG and the government have sparred over a series of reports ranging from 2G spectrum scam,estimated to have left a Rs 1.76 lakh crore dent on the exchequer,and the recent Coalgate that resulted in several mining licences being cancelled.Rai told reporters that the estimates could be questioned but the principles used to arrive at those figures were not under doubt. Describing Right To Information and the constitutional amendments related to panchayati raj institutions as landmark legislations,Rai said the citizen was now on the centrestage.Even recent schemes such as the employment guarantee programme and the health mission had created delivery channels which were participative and made the population more vigilant,he said.
No question of summoning PM as witness,says Chacko
Thrissur: Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G scam P C Chacko on Wednesday ruled out summoning PM Manmohan Singh to depose before the panel,saying there was no such precedent. It is out of the question to call the Prime Minister before the JPC as witness as there is no precedent of calling the Prime Ministers before the JPCs, he said. On reports that the BJP is likely to attend the JPC meeting tomorrow,ending its boycott of the panel to once again press for inclusion of Singh and finance minister P Chidambaram as witnesses,he said it was most welcome. The BJP members reported decision to attend the JPC meeting has proved that there was no justification for their boycott,he said. On summoning Chidambaram as witness,Chacko said it would be decided on the basis of consensus. Referring to the allegation of CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta that the Attorney General was not called before the JPC on October 11,Chacko said he was out of the country that day. Attorney General G E Vahanvati would be appearing before the JPC,he added. He said the extended period of the JPC would expire by December and one more extension would be essential as only 75% work was completed.The mobile operators association had been called for tomorrow's JPC meeting,Chacko said.PTI
2G case officer gets SC protection
New Delhi: A bench of justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishanan said that the EDs Deputy Director Rajeshwar Singh,on whose plea contempt proceeding were initiated against Sahara Group Chief Subrata Roy for allegedly interfering with the probe in the scam,needs to be protected. The bench said that allegations against him are being made to prevent him from conducting the probe in the scam fearlessly.
‘Black money’ is unreported wealth and P-Notes are illegal instruments (derivatives). Nationalise black money. Ban P-Notes
Every citizen of India, that is Bharat, governed by dharma should report his or her wealth for abhyudayam (welfare) of the nation. Failure to do so makes such wealth illicit wealth. Equitable and just governance by Rajadharma, demands that such wealth should be nationalised.
‘Black money’ is unreported wealth and P-Notes are illegal instruments (derivatives)
'Black money' can be defined as Nation's Wealth not available for equitable development of a nation
For example, wealth reported as belonging to Rajiv Gandhi in Schweizer Illustriete expose but not reported to Indian authorities is black money.
The legal heirs of Rajiv Gandhi (namely, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi) have a responsibility to bring the wealth into the nation's financial system. Their failure to do so should result in the nationalisation of such wealth as illicit wealth and appropriated into the Consolidated Fund of India to be used for social development projects truly honoring the memory of the late Prime Minister of India.
The text below Rajiv's photo reads: Rajiv Gandhi, Indian, Holds 2.5 billion Swiss Francs
‘Black money’ can be defined as unreported, undisclosed wealth. ‘Black money’ is not merely related to monies on whichtaxes were not paid. The ‘black money’ has a devastating negative effect on the nation’s economic advancement since the money is kept mostly abroad – used for the benefit of the foreign financial system -- and hence not available for investments within the country in a sustainable and regulated manner.
Section 132 of Income Tax Act, provides for confiscation of concealed income. What the IT department has revealed during the last two financial years as Rs. 19,938 crores of confiscated income, the amount is clearly only a tip of the iceberg.
Directorate of Transfer Pricing has detected mispricing of Rs. 67,768 crores in the last two financial years Transfer pricing is the amount charged by one part of a business for providing goods or services to another part for calculating profit and loss.
A large segment of the economy, of about 11 percent, relates to real estate transactions which help park unaccounted wealth. Stamp duties are a high 5%. Transaction costs related to the following are also high: advertising, commissions, registration, and contingent costs related to title disputes and litigation.
Unaccounted wealth routed through post box companies in tax havens like Mauritius
A major source of unaccounted wealth comes from post box companies in Mauritius, Cayman Islands or British Virgin Islands. A good example of abuse of corporate structure to account for such illicit wealth is the transfer of US$ 11.2 billion through a single share of a Cayman Islands company, for the sale of business operation of Hutchinson Group in India in Feb. 2007 to Vodafone. Cayman Islands law did NOT require to produce the accounts of the said company. Thus, US$11.2 billion became unaccounted wealth.
A corollary misuse of illegal procedures can also be cited. The illegal procedures were ‘legalised’ by P. Chidambaram despite RBI objections. The procedures relate to Participatory Notes (P-Notes). In India, only RBI is authorized to issue currency notes. P-Notes get used as a super-form of currency notes. P-Notes are instruments issued by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) the major conduits for the much-vaunted FDI flows into the stock markets of India. These P-Notes are used as investments in Indian stock markets without registering themselves with the market regulator (SEBI). In 1992, SEBI permitted FIIs to register and participate in the Indian stock market.
Though originally meant only to attract monies from foreign entities, local PEPs (Politically Exposed Persons) and looters of the nation’s wealth use the P-Notes by sending Indian Rupee wealth through hawala routes abroad and re-route the wealth as P-Notes without having to report who the owners of the instruments are. This is a scandalous violation of the basic principle of financial propriety called in Banking circles as ‘Know Your Client’ Principle. Since the holders of P-Notes are NOT identified, even a smuggler, drug trafficker or a terrorist can enter the Indian stockmarkets through the P-Notes route to influence and play crime games in the stock markets.
The P-Notes are thus offshore derivative instruments provided as a criminal, illegal method to create and transact in black money. Indian-based brokerages among the FIIs buy India-based stocks and then issue P-Notes to ‘foreign’ investors. The ‘foreign’ is in inverted commas because there is no regulation to enforce that they are exclusively ‘foreigners’. Any dividends of capital gains collected from the underlying stocks or securities go back to the mysterious, unidentified ‘investors. This is how most of FDI operates in India, mostly through the Mauritius tax haven route.
P-Notes is an illegal instrument because, the instrument allows large hedge funds to carry out their operations without disclosing their identity. P-Notes are virtually like currency notes, they are contract notes transferable by endorsement and delivery. Such a procedure makes it very difficult for Enforcement Directorate to track down and bring to book the culprits engaged in acts such as money laundering, crime money or illicit wealth received from undisclosed sources (usually corruption money punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988). We have already seen how money laundering occurs by using the hawala and P-Notes to re-route the wealth into the nation’s stock markets.
Don't tighten but ban P-Notes SEBI has no way of knowing who owns the underlying securities and hedge funds held as P-Notes. In the recent years since 2007, a large percentage, of over 50% of FII investments are accounted for by P-Notes. A crash in Sensex was engineered in October 2007 when P. Chidambaram rescued the markets by declaring that P-Notes would not be banned, though SEBI had earlier hinted that P-Notes would be phased out.
The so-called tightening of reporting norms for P-Notes is an eye-wash and has not resulted in any step forward to remove these illegal instruments from the nation’s financial system. See the recent report (June 2012):
Sebi tightens reporting norms for participatory notes BS Reporter / New Delhi Jun 09, 2012, 00:57 IST The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has tightened the rules governing participatory notes (P-notes) by cutting the time lag in reporting these transactions.
According to a circular issued yesterday, Sebi said foreign institutional investors (FIIs) will have to report monthly details of transactions done through P-notes within 10 days. Earlier, FIIs had a window of six months to report these transactions. The first such report will be for the month of October 2012, by November 10, 2012.
“FIIs issuing ODIs/PNs shall submit details of ODI/PN transaction report (Annexure A, B and C), along with the monthly summary report by 10th of every month for the previous month’s ODI transactions,” it said.
LEAVES LITTLE ELBOW ROOM Squeezes window for reporting P-note transactions to 10 days from six months earlier Move follows concerns raised by recent white paper on black money May drive more investors to QFI route Three annexures provide the format for reporting P-note activity, details of transactions and assets under management, respectively, under the heads of equity, debt and derivatives.
“The move would increase transparency. It is part of the regulator’s efforts to identify and monitor the beneficial owners of the shares held as closely as possible,” said C R Sasikumar, managing director and chief executive officer, SBI-SG Global Securities Services.
The Sebi move comes weeks after a white paper on black money by the central government identified P-notes as one of the routes through which illicit money transferred outside India returns here through a process called ‘round tripping’.
P-notes or overseas derivative instruments (ODIs) issued by FIIs are popular among foreign investors, since they allow these to earn returns in the Indian market without undergoing the significant cost and time implications of directly investing.
“These instruments are traded overseas outside the direct purview of Sebi surveillance, thereby raising many apprehensions about the beneficial ownership and the nature of funds invested in these instruments. Concerns have been raised that some of the money coming into the market via PNs could be unaccounted wealth, camouflaged under the guise of FII investment,” the white paper said.
The six-month lag in reporting was identified by some market participants as one of the factors affecting Sebi’s surveillance efforts. “The six-month lag in the information available is likely to reduce the strength of corrective action that can be taken by Sebi. These regulations thus, need to be modified to ensure information on downstream issuances is collected for the most recent month. This would ensure active surveillance and timely intervention as and when required by Sebi,” a market participant had said in a recent internal note on P-notes.
During the transitional phase, Sebi has allowed the reports for the months of December 2011 to April 2012 to be held with the existing six months’ lag.
For the months between May to September 2012, the transaction reports shall be given by November 10, the circular added.
The illegality of P-Notes should be recognized by Indian Parliament and a total ban on P-Notes should be imposed so as not to allow the type of financial crisis created for the Tiger Economies during the 1960’s by irresponsible market operations by FIIs who care little for India’s economic development and are interested in only making profits for themselves.
Using India's wealth for India's development and nationalisation of black money
Two aspects are discussed: 1. Creating Indian Ocean Community to increase the sustainable wealth of nations of the Community; 2. Nationalisation of black money
Section 1: Creating Indian Ocean Community to increase the sustainable wealth of nations of the Community
A remarkable snapshot presents the civilizational history of the globe over the last 2000 years which has impacted adversely the equitable distribution of wealth to all the people of the world. The snapshot presented below shows about even upto the year 1700 India and China with large populations were the dominant contributors to the productive wealth of the world. What happened during the last 400 years since 1700 need not detail us for long. It is a saga of colonial loot of unprecedented order together with the denial of access to technologies to large populations rendering them into a state of poverty.
One solution to quicken the march towards restoring the present-day poor nations such as China, India to the pre-eminent status held by them as major contributors to the world GDP is to form an Indian Ocean Community which will be a veritable economic powerhouse with multi-trillion dollar GDP potential.
Section 2. Nationalisation of black money
A major factor which slows down the march towards restoration of status of poor nations is the further impoverishment caused by what are today's non-colonial rulers who have forgotten their responsibility to keep the nations not only free but also firmly on the road to development.
One contributory cause for the slow pace of advancement of growth in poor nations is the behavior of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), many of whom have now become the wealth-grabbers through corrupt practices and accumulating wealth through unlawful means.
Thus, stemming the creation and accumulation of black money should complement the efforts to forming an Indian Ocean Community.
One way to stop black money accumulation is to nationalise such wealth, on the lines followed by Switzerland for restitution of illicit wealth of PEPs to the poor people of the nations looted by the PEPs.
What happened after the era of colonial regimes (say, since the 1950's -- see the bar chart) is a sordid story of further impoverishment of the people by replacing the colonial loot (with direct participation as colonial regimes) by the proxy colonial loot (with indirect control by an international financial system)mainly by Politically Exposed Persons who have indulged in a-dharma and enriched themselves while impoverishing the people in general and depositing large amounts of illicit wealth in tax havens. This is referred to as 'black money'.
Black money can be simply defined as wealth NOT available to create the wealth of a nation.
Why should large quantities of India’s wealth be kept outside of the nation’s financial system? Such a behavior results in accumulation of black money in what are today the inheritors of past colonial regimes. Accumulation of black money in tax havens only results in colonial powers becoming more powerful and becoming richer while further impoverishing the poor peoples.
The issue is not whether the money is “black” because taxes have been avoided. The issue is that money is NOT available within the nation for developmental investments and hence the wealth is 'black'.
Keeping the wealth within the reach of the people who have helped create the wealth.
Bringing the monies into the nation’s financial system instead of allowing colonial loot to continue in the form of money stashed away in colonial tax havens.
P-notes Instead of RBI issuing Indian currency notes, Morgan Stanley or Fiduciary Investments issue P-Notes as convertible notes without asking any question about who the owners of the P-Notes are. Thus, the P=Note issuers become the Currency issuers with no accountability to the nation’s financial system.
The Act governs the freezing, forfeiture and restitution of assets of politically exposed persons or their close associates. The Act was applied in enabling restitution of illicit wealth of PEPs (Politically Exposed Persons) like Muamar Gadafi of Libya and Hasni Mubarak of Egypt.
Illicit wealth is made up of assets acquired by unlawful means.
PEPs are a category which includes specifically heads of state or government, high-ranking politicians, high-ranking members of the administration, judiciary, armed forces or national political parties, and senior executives of state-owned corporations of national importance, or natural or legal persons who are closely associated with politically exposed persons for family, personal or business reasons (close associates).
Illicit wealth is presumed to be of unlawful origin if the extraordinary increase is connected with the exercise of a public office by the PEP in a country acknowledged with high level of corruption.
Article 8 of RIAA stipulates the following objectives of the restitution of forfeited assets : a. to improve the living conditions of the people of the country of origin, or b. to strengthen the Rule of Law in the country of origin and to fight the impunity of criminals.
Unaccounted monies held abroad (SC Judgment, July 2011):
Supreme Court WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 176 OF 2009: Order of Jutice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar “78.The major problem, in the matters before us, has been the inaction of the State. This is so, both with regard to the specific instances of Hassan Ali Khan and the Tapurias, and also with respect to the issues regarding parallel economy, generation of black money etc. The failure is not of the Constitutional values or of the powers available to the State; the failure has been of human agency. The response cannot be the promotion of vigilantism, and thereby violate other constitutional values. The response has to necessarily be a more emphatic assertion of those values, both in terms of protection of an individual’s right to privacy and also the protection of individual’s right to petition this Court, under Clause (1) of Article 32, to protect fundamental rights from evisceration of content because of failures of the State. The balancing leads only to one conclusion: strengthening of the machinery of investigations, and vigil by broader citizenry in ensuring that the agents of State do not weaken such machinery.”
Unaccounted monies held abroad (SC Judgment, July 2011) Published: November 10, 2012 02:22 IST | Updated: November 10, 2012 02:22 IST Centre puts on hold court direction to form SIT on black money J. Venkatesan It has been more than a year since matter was referred to three-judge Bench The Supreme Court’s directions to the Centre in the ‘black money case,’ including for setting up a special investigation team to go into all issues, are to be examined by a three-judge Bench. Until a decision is rendered by the Bench, these directions will be put on hold, the government has said. It has now been more than a year since the court gave a split verdict on the Centre’s application seeking recall of its order on black money and referred the matter for a fresh hearing by three judges. Acting on petitions filed by the former Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani and others, a Bench of Justices B. Sudershan Reddy (since retired) and S.S. Nijjar had on July 4, 2011 ordered constitution of the SIT headed by a retired Supreme Court judge B.P. Jeevan Reddy. The court pulled up the Centre for not showing seriousness in bringing black money stashed away by Indians abroad. “The volume of alleged income taxes owed to the country, as demanded by the Union of India itself, and the volume of monies, by some accounts $8.04 billion, and some other accounts in excess of Rs. 70,000 crore, are said to have been routed through various bank accounts of Hassan Ali Khan and the Tapurias. Further, from all accounts, it has been acknowledged that none of the named individuals has any known and lawful sources for such huge quantities of monies.” The court said: “All of these factors… ought to have immediately raised questions regarding the sources being unlawful activities, national security, and transfer of funds into India for other illegal activities, including acts against the state…. However, there is still no evidence of a really serious investigation… from the national security perspective.” On July 15, 2011, the Centre filed an application for recall of the order stating it was passed without jurisdiction. “The order impinges upon the well settled principle that courts do not interfere with the Economic Policy which is in the domain of the Executive…” It also “impinges upon the principle that in matters of utilities, tax and economic policy, legislation and regulation cases, the court exercises judicial self-restraint if not judicial deference to the acts of the Executive…” The wide-ranging criticism of the state were uncalled for, the Centre said, adding the constitution of a SIT and the consequential directions could not be implemented. In September last year, a Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir (now Chief Justice of India) and Nijjar gave a split verdict on the Centre’s application. Justice Kabir said: “Justice does not transcend all barriers and rules of procedure, nor technicalities can stand in its way, particularly if the implementation [of the July 4, 2011 order] would result in injustice. The Supreme Court had the inherent powers to correct injustice.” Justice Nijjar, however, said: “In the present case, there is no question of mistaken facts, being presented by anyone to the court. The application also fails to indicate any miscarriage of justice or injustice which would be caused to any particular class.” The application, though described as one for modification, “is in substance more in the nature of an appeal. At best, it could be said to be in substance an application for review. It certainly does not lie within the very narrow limits within which this court would entertain an application for modification.” The directions, issued after hearing counsel for the parties at length and on numerous dates, could not be recalled on an application seeking only a modification of the order. “The application is dismissed,” said Justice Nijjar. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/centre-puts-on-hold-court-direction-to-form-sit-on-black-money/article4082190.ece?css=print Black money of illicit wealth such as those of Hassan Ali, or Tapuria, illicit wealth held in tax havens by the legatees of the late Rajiv Gandhi (namely, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi) and all the nationalised wealth of PEPs in tax havens should be brought into the nation's financial system FORTHWITH, if necessary, by issuing a national ordinance the way privy purses were nationalised or the way private banks were nationalised. After such a nationalisation, the onus of proving that the wealth was obtained by lawful means should be with the account holders. The constitution of SIT under Supreme Court supervision as spelt out in the July 2011 Judgement of the SC should be a welcome first step. As the nation's justice system grinds on its own pace, let us hope 1. that there will be some alacrity not to deny justice by delaying justice and 2. that the three-judge Bench of SC fully endorses the earlier July 2011 Court order by the 2-judge bench of Jutice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar. Useful links: http://mrv.net.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=246:how-indian-black-money-in-swiss-banks-can-be-brought-back&catid=3:global-economy&Itemid=3 How Indian black money in Swiss banks can be brought back http://www.rediff.com/business/column/column-will-congress-and-bjp-defend-the-honour-of-rajiv-gandhi/20120625.htm Will Congress & BJP defend the honour of Rajiv Gandhi?http://www.rediff.com/business/column/column-is-this-why-dmk-supported-pranab-mukherjee/20120704.htm Is this why DMK supported Pranab Mukherjee?
Definition of term 'black money': Wealth not available for equitable development of a nation
Using India's wealth for India's development and nationalisation of black money
Two aspects are discussed: 1. Creating Indian Ocean Community to increase the sustainable wealth of nations of the Community; 2. Nationalisation of black money
Section 1: Creating Indian Ocean Community to increase the sustainable wealth of nations of the Community
A remarkable snapshot presents the civilizational history of the globe over the last 2000 years which has impacted adversely the equitable distribution of wealth to all the people of the world. The snapshot presented below shows about even upto the year 1700 India and China with large populations were the dominant contributors to the productive wealth of the world. What happened during the last 400 years since 1700 need not detail us for long. It is a saga of colonial loot of unprecedented order together with the denial of access to technologies to large populations rendering them into a state of poverty.
One solution to quicken the march towards restoring the present-day poor nations such as China, India to the pre-eminent status held by them as major contributors to the world GDP is to form an Indian Ocean Community which will be a veritable economic powerhouse with multi-trillion dollar GDP potential.
Section 2. Nationalisation of black money
A major factor which slows down the march towards restoration of status of poor nations is the further impoverishment caused by what are today's non-colonial rulers who have forgotten their responsibility to keep the nations not only free but also firmly on the road to development.
One contributory cause for the slow pace of advancement of growth in poor nations is the behavior of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), many of whom have now become the wealth-grabbers through corrupt practices and accumulating wealth through unlawful means.
Thus, stemming the creation and accumulation of black money should complement the efforts to forming an Indian Ocean Community.
One way to stop black money accumulation is to nationalise such wealth, on the lines followed by Switzerland for restitution of illicit wealth of PEPs to the poor people of the nations looted by the PEPs.
What happened after the era of colonial regimes (say, since the 1950's -- see the bar chart) is a sordid story of further impoverishment of the people by replacing the colonial loot (with direct participation as colonial regimes) by the proxy colonial loot (with indirect control by an international financial system)mainly by Politically Exposed Persons who have indulged in a-dharma and enriched themselves while impoverishing the people in general and depositing large amounts of illicit wealth in tax havens. This is referred to as 'black money'.
Black money can be simply defined as wealth NOT available to create the wealth of a nation.
Why should large quantities of India’s wealth be kept outside of the nation’s financial system? Such a behavior results in accumulation of black money in what are today the inheritors of past colonial regimes. Accumulation of black money in tax havens only results in colonial powers becoming more powerful and becoming richer while further impoverishing the poor peoples.
The issue is not whether the money is “black” because taxes have been avoided. The issue is that money is NOT available within the nation for developmental investments and hence the wealth is 'black'.
Keeping the wealth within the reach of the people who have helped create the wealth.
Bringing the monies into the nation’s financial system instead of allowing colonial loot to continue in the form of money stashed away in colonial tax havens.
P-notes Instead of RBI issuing Indian currency notes, Morgan Stanley or Fiduciary Investments issue P-Notes as convertible notes without asking any question about who the owners of the P-Notes are. Thus, the P=Note issuers become the Currency issuers with no accountability to the nation’s financial system.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38995251/Restitution-of-Illicit-Assets-Act-RIAA Federal Act on the Restitution of Assets of Politically Exposed Personsobtained by Unlawful Means Restitution of Illicit Assets Act (RIAA) of 1 October 2010
The Act governs the freezing, forfeiture and restitution of assets of politically exposed persons or their close associates. The Act was applied in enabling restitution of illicit wealth of PEPs (Politically Exposed Persons) like Muamar Gadafi of Libya and Hasni Mubarak of Egypt.
Illicit wealth is made up of assets acquired by unlawful means.
PEPs are a category which includes specifically heads of state or government, high-ranking politicians, high-ranking members of the administration, judiciary, armed forces or national political parties, and senior executives of state-owned corporations of national importance, or natural or legal persons who are closely associated with politically exposed persons for family, personal or business reasons (close associates).
Illicit wealth is presumed to be of unlawful origin if the extraordinary increase is connected with the exercise of a public office by the PEP in a country acknowledged with high level of corruption.
Article 8 of RIAA stipulates the following objectives of the restitution of forfeited assets : a. to improve the living conditions of the people of the country of origin, or b. to strengthen the Rule of Law in the country of origin and to fight the impunity of criminals.
Unaccounted monies held abroad (SC Judgment, July 2011):
Supreme Court WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 176 OF 2009: Order of Jutice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar “78.The major problem, in the matters before us, has been the inaction of the State. This is so, both with regard to the specific instances of Hassan Ali Khan and the Tapurias, and also with respect to the issues regarding parallel economy, generation of black money etc. The failure is not of the Constitutional values or of the powers available to the State; the failure has been of human agency. The response cannot be the promotion of vigilantism, and thereby violate other constitutional values. The response has to necessarily be a more emphatic assertion of those values, both in terms of protection of an individual’s right to privacy and also the protection of individual’s right to petition this Court, under Clause (1) of Article 32, to protect fundamental rights from evisceration of content because of failures of the State. The balancing leads only to one conclusion: strengthening of the machinery of investigations, and vigil by broader citizenry in ensuring that the agents of State do not weaken such machinery.”
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/135961614/blackmoneyjudgmentjuly2011 blackmoneyjudgmentjuly2011 Published: November 10, 2012 02:22 IST | Updated: November 10, 2012 02:22 IST
Centre puts on hold court direction to form SIT on black money
J. Venkatesan
It has been more than a year since matter was referred to three-judge Bench
The Supreme Court’s directions to the Centre in the ‘black money case,’ including for setting up a special investigation team to go into all issues, are to be examined by a three-judge Bench. Until a decision is rendered by the Bench, these directions will be put on hold, the government has said.
It has now been more than a year since the court gave a split verdict on the Centre’s application seeking recall of its order on black money and referred the matter for a fresh hearing by three judges.
Acting on petitions filed by the former Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani and others, a Bench of Justices B. Sudershan Reddy (since retired) and S.S. Nijjar had on July 4, 2011 ordered constitution of the SIT headed by a retired Supreme Court judge B.P. Jeevan Reddy.
The court pulled up the Centre for not showing seriousness in bringing black money stashed away by Indians abroad. “The volume of alleged income taxes owed to the country, as demanded by the Union of India itself, and the volume of monies, by some accounts $8.04 billion, and some other accounts in excess of Rs. 70,000 crore, are said to have been routed through various bank accounts of Hassan Ali Khan and the Tapurias. Further, from all accounts, it has been acknowledged that none of the named individuals has any known and lawful sources for such huge quantities of monies.” The court said: “All of these factors… ought to have immediately raised questions regarding the sources being unlawful activities, national security, and transfer of funds into India for other illegal activities, including acts against the state…. However, there is still no evidence of a really serious investigation… from the national security perspective.”
On July 15, 2011, the Centre filed an application for recall of the order stating it was passed without jurisdiction. “The order impinges upon the well settled principle that courts do not interfere with the Economic Policy which is in the domain of the Executive…” It also “impinges upon the principle that in matters of utilities, tax and economic policy, legislation and regulation cases, the court exercises judicial self-restraint if not judicial deference to the acts of the Executive…” The wide-ranging criticism of the state were uncalled for, the Centre said, adding the constitution of a SIT and the consequential directions could not be implemented. In September last year, a Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir (now Chief Justice of India) and Nijjar gave a split verdict on the Centre’s application. Justice Kabir said: “Justice does not transcend all barriers and rules of procedure, nor technicalities can stand in its way, particularly if the implementation [of the July 4, 2011 order] would result in injustice. The Supreme Court had the inherent powers to correct injustice.”
Justice Nijjar, however, said: “In the present case, there is no question of mistaken facts, being presented by anyone to the court. The application also fails to indicate any miscarriage of justice or injustice which would be caused to any particular class.” The application, though described as one for modification, “is in substance more in the nature of an appeal. At best, it could be said to be in substance an application for review. It certainly does not lie within the very narrow limits within which this court would entertain an application for modification.” The directions, issued after hearing counsel for the parties at length and on numerous dates, could not be recalled on an application seeking only a modification of the order. “The application is dismissed,” said Justice Nijjar.
Black money of illicit wealth such as those of Hassan Ali, or Tapuria, illicit wealth held in tax havens by the legatees of the late Rajiv Gandhi (namely, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi) and all the nationalised wealth of PEPs in tax havens should be brought into the nation's financial system FORTHWITH, if necessary, by issuing a national ordinance the way privy purses were nationalised or the way private banks were nationalised.
After such a nationalisation, the onus of proving that the wealth was obtained by lawful means should be with the account holders.
The constitution of SIT under Supreme Court supervision as spelt out in the July 2011 Judgement of the SC should be a welcome first step.
As the nation's justice system grinds on its own pace, let us hope 1. that there will be some alacrity not to deny justice by delaying justice and 2. that the three-judge Bench of SC fully endorses the earlier July 2011 Court order by the 2-judge bench of Jutice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar.
Useful links:
http://mrv.net.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=246:how-indian-black-money-in-swiss-banks-can-be-brought-back&catid=3:global-economy&Itemid=3 How Indian black money in Swiss banks can be brought back http://www.rediff.com/business/column/column-will-congress-and-bjp-defend-the-honour-of-rajiv-gandhi/20120625.htm Will Congress & BJP defend the honour of Rajiv Gandhi?
http://www.rediff.com/business/column/column-is-this-why-dmk-supported-pranab-mukherjee/20120704.htm Is this why DMK supported Pranab Mukherjee?
CBI moves SC to keep out Patils bro from murder case
Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN
New Delhi: The CBI has rushed to the Supreme Court to stall attempts to link ex-president Pratiba Patils brother G N Patil to a murder trial.The CBI does not even want the trial court to summon the call records of mobile phones of Dr V G Patil,who was stabbed to death on September 21,2005,seizure memo of his car,and the TV interview given by the contract killer Raju Mali. The trial court had ordered the CBI to produce the documents on an application by deceased V G Patils wife Rajani Patil,who had been alleging that her husband was killed because of a conspiracy by political rivals in G N Patil and another Dr Ulhas Patil. Within a month of Bombay High Court upholding the trial courts order,the CBI moved an appeal before the Supreme Court,which last week stayed the HC order.Appearing for the agency,additional solicitor general Siddharth Luthra said the CBI had a statutory right to prove its case in the trial court and its course could not be determined by a third party,that is Rajani Patil. It is clear that there is no material that has come on record to substantiate any allegation that either Dr G N Patil,and Dr Ulhas Patil had any motive to murder V G Patil, the CBI said. Within five days of the murder of V G Patil,the Jalgaon police arrested Raju Pundalik Mali and Raju Chintamani Sonawane.Four days later,the probe was transferred to Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department (CID),which had concluded that the motive behind the crime was a financial dispute between Raju Mali and V G Patil for a sum of Rs 4.5 lakh and a dispute of political nature between V G Patil and two others Leeladhar Narkhede and Damodar Jagannath Lokhande.
New Delhi: Denials notwithstanding,the government indeed has been considering the idea of turning the Comptroller and Auditor General into a multi-member body as minister of state in Prime Ministers Office V Narayanaswamy said last week. Although the government had dropped the idea of turning the CAG into a multimember body,agreeing with the federal auditor that the existing structure with a singular head was fine,it dusted off the proposal at the instance of the Shunglu committee. Significantly,the important recommendation of the committee headed by V K Shunglu,who headed the CAG himself,came in April 2011 by when the auditor,with its reports on the 2G scam and the Commonwealth Games,had turned into a source of embarrassment for the government. Soon,the cabinet secretariat wrote to the CAG seeking its comments on Shunglu panels recommendation for restructuring the auditor. According to sources in the CAG,the April 23,2011 note came as a surprise to the head of CAG,Vinod Rai,and his colleagues,who had assumed that government had given up the idea of expanding the auditor into a multimember body.In his reply to the cabinet secretariat,Rai stressed this much,saying while CAG may have a single head,it was not a monocracy and actually functioned as a multi-member collegium. The CAG of India is assisted by a multi-member collegium of five deputy CAGs who scrutinize and finalize the audit reports before these are approved and signed by the CAG.The government had agreed to the CAGs proposal as recently as 2008 for five deputy CAGs so as to ensure that the department is adequately equipped and is professionally qualified to handle the diverse range of audit issues needing in-depth consideration and examination, Rai said in the letter to the cabinet secretariat.
Times View
The institution of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has functioned perfectly well in its current form and there is,therefore,bound to be some suspicion about the governments move to make it a multi-member body.The government protests that it is only seeking to make the CAG more effective.If that is indeed the case,and it may well be,it should recognise that it has chosen a particularly bad time to suggest the change.At a time when a series of CAG reports have placed the government in the dock on several issues,any move by the government to change the structure of that body will be viewed with scepticism.If the government genuinely believes the proposed change is for the better,it should wait for a more appropriate time to suggest it.
CAG punches holes in UPAs flagship urban devpt scheme
Houses Built For The Poor Allotted To Ineligible Beneficiaries
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Houses built for the poor allotted to ineligible beneficiaries,diversion of over Rs 100 crore to unapproved ventures,and a huge lapse in completion of projects mark UPAs flagship programme for urban areas the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has found serious lacunae and irregularities in the implementation of JNNURM in a nationwide audit that was tabled in Parliament on Thursday. Flagging irregularities and diversion of funds as major concerns,the federal audit body has suggested to the ministries of urban development and housing and poverty alleviation to have zero tolerance policy in these regards. The auditor found that during the seven-year-period (( 2005-06 to 201-12 ) of JNNURM-I,63 urban bodies across the country completed only 231 of the 1,298 infrastructure projects a dismal record of only 18% completion.It was far worse in the case of urban housing projects for the poor.The report showed that only 22 housing projects out of the 1,517 approved ones were completed till the end of last fiscal. The auditors report has also brought out that out of 16.07 lakh houses approved only 4.18 lakh were completed till March,2011,and of these completed dwellings only 2.21 lakh were occupied.The audit has also indicated the risk of ineligible beneficiaries deriving benefits of this scheme for the poor due to deficiencies in the process of beneficiaries. In some cases,the CAG found that the beneficiaries were not identified or the surveys were not conducted.There were cases like in Ghaziabad,Uttar Pradesh,where 295 houses were allotted to beneficiaries other than those mentioned in the detailed project reports (DPRs).Similarly in Faridabad,Haryana,out of 1,834 dwelling units only 202 were allotted since the process to identify beneficiaries was underway. CAG also found that in Ramanagara (Karnataka) against the 444 beneficiaries in the DPR,the final proposal was for construction of 1,800 houses.The audit body has recommended,Government of India may review the status of all housing schemes and step up the efforts to make allotment to eligible beneficiaries. In case of infrastructure projects,including in sectors such as transportation,sewage and solid waste management,the CAG found that only 11 out of the selected 216 projects were completed in seven years.To make matters worse,majority of the projects was incomplete.The report blamed deficient preparation and appraisal of DPR,nonavailability of land,escalation in costs and change in design and scope. The auditor said there were eight cases of diversion of funds amounting to Rs 114.68 crore in JNNURM projects in Andhra Pradesh,Chhattisgarh,Haryana,Jharkhand,West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh.The diversion was for purposes other than those admissible under JNNURM.In one instance,funds were utilized for payment of salary to the civic employees.
PROJECTS AT SNAILS PACE
KEY FINDINGS OF CAG IN JNNURM SCHEME Out of 2,815 projects approved till March 2011,only 253 were completed against the two-year period granted for completion 82 housing projects audited showed only one project was completed,73 incomplete and 7 didnt start.Out of 1,517 housing projects,only 22 were completed Out of 37 water supply projects,only 3 got completed.Five have not started and one was withdrawn Of the selected 11 solid waste management projects,none was completed Out of 56 sewerage plans,only four were completed In 19 selected MRTS,roads,flyover & transport projects,only 3 were completed.One was abandoned & 2 were withdrawn CAG found 8 cases where Rs 114.68 cr granted for JNNURM projects were misused
REASON OF POOR SHOW
Inadequate capacity to monitor work;delay in land acquisition and approvals
New Delhi: India will remain among the worlds largest arms importers for the foreseeable future.With DRDO,defence PSUs and ordnance factories struggling to get their act together,the CAG has now punched holes even in the implementation of the much-touted defence offsets policy. The audit watchdog also slammed DRDO,often in the dock for huge time and cost overruns in crucial defence projects,for lacking transparency and objectivity,undertaking unfruitful investments and committing irregularities in getting sanctions for new programmes. It was in July 2005 that the defence ministry came out with the new offsets policy to develop the indigenous DIB (defence industrial base).Under it,any foreign arms firm bagging a deal over Rs 300 crore had to plough back at least 30% of the contract value back into India as offsets.With a flurry of defence deals,India has already attracted over $4.27 billion through defence offsets since 2007.The figure will zoom upwards with several mega defence deals in the pipeline.The around $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project to acquire 126 fighters,for instance,specifies a 50% offset obligation on the foreign vendor.But the latest CAG report tabled in Parliament on Thursday,after examining 16 offset contracts worth Rs 18,445 crore,said the policy was floundering to strengthen self-reliance in defence preparedness. For one,the policy is ambiguous,with the audit watchdog also questioning waivers given to foreign arms companies from fulfilling their offset obligations.For another,the overall monitoring mechanism for directing offset activity towards desired objectives remains ineffective and only a paper exercise. MoD needs to ensure clarity in the offset provisions so as to leave little room for ambiguity in their interpretation.The monitoring mechanism also needs to be reviewed to ensure effective implementation, the CAG report said. India still imports 70% of its military requirements.After several complaints last year that India's fledgling DIB was incapable of absorbing the huge offsets,MoD was forced to liberalize the offsets policy to include investments in the country's civil aerospace,homeland security and training sectors as well. MoD,however,has dragged its feet in implementing recommendations,first submitted by the Rama Rao Committee in 2008,to overhaul DRDO and its network of over 50 labs.
Army pulled up for giving up Mum plot to pvt builder
The CAG has criticized the Army and the defence estates authorities for letting a private builder usurp their land at a prime spot in Mumbai,with the office of the then MoS for defence production Rao Inderjit Singh also playing a role by issuing an irregular no-objection certificate.Slamming the defence authorities,the report said that even after certain fraudulent activities regarding the land (Kandivli) had come to their notice,COD did not get the land demarcated in its favour from state authorities,which facilitated the usurpation of the land from the Army.After the private company,M/s Neo Pharma Pvt Ltd (Kalpataru Builders),began developmental work on the land in question in 2007,the COD objected and placed sentries there for protection.( But) the company lodged a complaint with the minister (Inderjit Singh),whereby his secretary wrote to the then Army chiefs secretariat for appropriate action. TNN
In its first public rally since its inception, Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘Aam Aadmi’ party released a ‘Black Paper on Irrigation’ on Sunday to systematically counter the Maharashtra government’s controversial White Paper on the state of irrigation affairs.
The Black Paper debunks most of the claims made in the government version, notably the claim by the State Water Resources Department (WRD) claim that the irrigated area in the State from 2000-01 to 2010-11 had risen by 72 per cent — from 17.5 lakh to 29 lakh hectares.
The paper was symbolically released in midst of a packed audience in Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare’s stronghold here. Decrying the roles of Mr. Tatkare and the former Deputy Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar, in the irrigation scam, Mr. Kejriwal demanded Mr. Tatkare’s resignation.
Earlier in the day, thousands of activists and leaders of different farmer organisations in the State joined the rally that commenced from Chembur in Mumbai. Also present were activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, Anjali Damania and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana MLA Raju Shetty.
Entitled “Damned by the Irrigation scam,” the two-part document based on government data purports to disprove the WRD’s tall claims about the area brought under irrigation, which it remarks as being ‘manipulative and entirely contradictory.’
According to the Black Paper, the State’s gross irrigated area increased by a mere 8.9 per cent during the last decade despite the WRD having an annual outlay of Rs. 7,000 crore per annum, amounting to a staggering Rs. 70,000 crore worth funds pumped in during the last decade. It says the per hectare cost shot up to a whopping Rs. 21.67 lakh during the period.
Dubbing the WRD’s White Paper as a farcical exercise, the paper terms the gesture a bogus attempt of face-saving predicated on account of political compulsions.
The data in the Black Paper is however calculated from a variety of government sources in the public domain, the reason cited in the report that most of the information was not readily available and that the efforts to use information via RTI were being stonewalled.
According to it, while both the NABARD and the CWC almost concur on the irrigation potential in Maharashtra (NABARD pegs it at 8.4 Mha while the CWC has stated it as 8.952 Mha), the figure given by the WRD is way above, standing at 12.6 Mha.
According to the report, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Odisha that have a large number of dams have drastically increased their Net Irrigated Area between 2000 and 2008, while in Maharashtra, despite being numerically superior in the number of dams built (1,676 dams), the Net Irrigated Area had steadily decreased (by 2.09 per cent) during the same period.
It notes that the Kondhane project, which started off at Rs. 56.14 crore now overshot its costs by 993.69 per cent to 614 crore. Moreover, the height was increased from 39 meters to 71 meters within one month of tender approval.
“Work was commenced though the proposal for forest clearance has still not reached the MoEF. The dam is set to submerge 261 hectares of forest land,” notes the report.
It similarly notes that the proposals for forest clearances had still not reached the MoEF in case of the Barvi, Kalu and the Balganga dams.
In all the case, M/s F.A. Enterprises was the only contractor to have been awarded the projects, pointing to a lethal contractor-politician-bureaucrat nexus.
Are Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul planning to set up their own private TV channel in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections?
Only they and their close strategists know for sure, but there are enough straws in the wind for observers to draw some such conclusions.
Exhibit A is the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s note of 30 November to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), seeking a review of the current policy that does not allow governments to run TV channels. This was one of I&B’s first acts after Manish Tewari took over as minister. The I&B note, reports The Times of India, asks Trai to “kindly provide your recommendations” on whether central and state government ministries and departments, public sector companies and joint ventures can be allowed to set up their own TV channels. Will Trai, which operates under another voluble Congress loyalist, Kapil Sibal, say no?
Image makeover: Will a television channel help promote Sonia and Rahul Gandhi’s agenda better? PTI
Exhibit B is the clandestine takeover of all the properties of Associated Journals Ltd, publisher of the defunct National Herald, by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul through a private non-profit. The deal was entirely financed by a Congress party loan to the mother-and-son duo, and it was originally exposed by the irrepressible Subramanian Swamy two months ago. Even though the media has chosen to bury the scandal, the fact is Sonia and Rahul, through a Section 25 company called Young Indian, now own a controlling 76 percent interest in Associated Journals which owns at least Rs 1,600 crore worth of property. The property can be leveraged to start a TV channel, if necessary.
Exhibit C is the creation of a new media strategy group that unifies the Congress party and government into one common communication exercise. According to a report in The Economic Times, in the new arrangement, the party and government will speak in one voice – which, everyone knows, means the government’s communications strategy will now be handled from 10 Janpath in the period up to the next elections.
The report says that a coordination committee has been set up, and its members include Ahmad Patel, Sonia Gandhi’s Political Secretary, I&B Minister Manish Tewari, Minister of State Rajiv Shukla (a former journalist), and the PM’s Media Advisor and former TV anchor Pankaj Pachauri, apart from party functionaries Janardhan Dwivedi and Ambika Soni.
Why do these exhibits add up to the possibility of a Sonia-Rahul TV channel? Several reasons why.
First, the takeover of Associated Journals and the move of the combative Manish Tewari to the I&B ministry indicate that there was some kind of communications plan in the offing. Else, there was no need to shift Ambika Soni from I&B. Not only that, Tewari, as soon as he took over the ministry, sends Trai the note on allowing government to set up a channel.
Second, the Sonia-Rahul takeover of Associated Journals is probably pre-emptive in nature. Since the final view of the regulator cannot be predicted, owning Associated Journals provides them with enough resources to start a channel if they want to. The fact that it was the Congress party which lent Sonia and Rahul Rs 90 crore for the project gives the game away.
Three, equally significant is the email statement from Rahul Gandhi’s office on the reasons for the takeover of Associated Journals by Young Indian. The Hindu says the email read: “Young Indian is a company registered and holding a licence granted under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. As a Section 25 company, Young Indian is a not-for-profit company and does not have commercial operations. The activities of the company are in the public domain. Anyone who chooses to can inspect the Objects of the Company. The company has no intention of starting any newspaper.” (Italics ours)
The last sentence is the most important part of the statement. If Associated Journals, now owned by Young Indian, has no intention of starting a newspaper, what does the mother-son duo want it for? Surely, not to earn rent from properties? A TV channel would fit the bill in terms of political needs better.
Four, for some time now, the Congress party has been at the receiving end of media criticism for the 2G scam, the Commonwealth Games scam, Coalgate, the Vadra land-grab and policy paralysis. But the party spokespersons have been left fuming on TV channels where they cannot control the nature of the dialogue or discussion. All the independent news channels are run by strong anchors who do not allow party agendas to be played out too much.
In theory, the government should be able to use Prasar Bharati and Doordarshan to get its political message across, but these organisations are so weak and tainted by past association with the government that it is tough to now invest them with credibility, however hard the government may try.
This is something all political parties have realised, and none more so than the state-level political parties.
In all the major states, political parties run their own news channels by proxy – with friendly businessmen running the show, or even by politicians and their families.
Thus in Tamil Nadu we have Sun TV, which is run by M Karunanidhi’s grand-nephew, and Jaya TV, a friendly businessman. In Andhra, YSR’s son runs Sakshi, while Chandrababu Naidu has friendly relations with Eenadu TV. Gujarat has its NaMo TV (not a full-fledged channel yet, but it could soon become one), and the Communists have their own channel in Kerala. Some political parties run their own newspapers – from Shiv Sena’s Saamna to the CPI(M)’s Ganashakti.
The attraction of owning a TV channel for political parties is simple: given the importance of the medium in future elections, and given the presidential nature of future elections, politicians need to control their communications and present it in a way that is favourable to them. Just as corporate advertisers want to control their communications with consumers, political parties their voter messages sent and received without the intervention of independent media.
This is why most successful politicians – from Narendra Modi to Sharad Pawar to Sonia Gandhi to Jayalalithaa, Mayawati and Karunanidhi – seldom interact with the media except in carefully chosen settings.
With paid news now becoming increasingly difficult – thanks to Press Council interventions and general media wariness about it – political parties find it logical to own or control TV channels.
In India’s political climate, politicians are wary of open-ended media interactions for the same reason CEOs and politicians in America avoid impromptu media access. Every politician worth his salt now wants to give his message exactly as he thinks it should be sent and received.
In the Congress context, Rahul Gandhi has been widely written out as a political washout. Which makes it all the more necessary to refine his communication strategy.
One can speculate that owning a TV channel would have crossed the minds of family loyalists in the Congress. Without a TV channel friendly to him, the Yuvraj may be consigned to twiddling his thumbs on the fringes of political discourse.
Wal-Mart affiliate used bribes to open 19 new stores in Mexico: Report Reuters | Dec 18, 2012, 01.35 PM IST
The report says that Wal-Mart had intentionally stifled an internal probe into bribery at its Mexican affiliate Walmex.
NEW YORK: Wal-Mart Stores Inc's Mexican affiliate routinely used bribes to open stores in desirable locations, according to a New York Times investigation published Monday, which cites 19 instances of the retail giant paying off local officials.
The Times first reported in April that Wal-Mart had intentionally stifled an internal probe into bribery at its Mexican affiliate Walmex. Late last month, Mexico's anti-corruption body said it found no irregularities in the permits Wal-Mart received in the country, but that two audits remain underway.
In the new report published on its web site, the Times detailed specific instances in which Walmex allegedly paid off officials to expand in Mexico. The alleged payoffs often related to zoning laws and environmental permits that would have otherwise prevented Walmex's opening of new stores.
Much of the report focused on a store built near ancient ruins in Teotihuacan, north of Mexico City. Walmex was hit by protests in 2004 after announcing plans to build a warehouse less than a mile from the city.
In a statement Monday night, Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said the company was already looking into the allegations in the Times article regarding the permitting and licensing process for the Teotihuacan store, as part of a broader internal probe that Wal-Mart began over a year ago into potential violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
"At this point, the investigation is still ongoing and we have not yet reached final conclusions," he said, adding that the company has taken steps to improve its compliance programs.
Wal-Mart is also cooperating with the Department of Justice and the securities and exchange commission (SEC) on the matter, Tovar said.
The US Justice department, the SEC, US lawmakers and authorities in Mexico have all been conducting their own probes.
An official at Mexico's federal attorney general's office told Reuters that an initial probe had been opened following the Times' April story, but that prosecutors did not uncover sufficient evidence to file any charges.
The probe closed "a couple months ago," the official said.
In a "Leading with Integrity" letter sent to Wal-Mart employees after Monday's Times report, chief executive Mike Duke - who oversaw international operations from 2005 to 2009 - said integrity is the foundation of the company's culture.
"As leaders, we are measured by our weakest moment, so we can't have a weak moment in the area of integrity," Duke wrote. "We can have a bad sales day and a good sales day and hope they average out, but we can't average integrity."
Shares of Wal-Mart rose 0.65% to close at $69.20 in New York trading on Monday, before the Times story was posted.
The Times report did not give a figure for how much Wal-Mart spent on all of the alleged bribes. But it cites instances in which the company allegedly paid $221,000 in bribes to build a store near the ruins in Teotihuacan, as well as $341,000 in alleged bribes to establish a store near the Basilica de Guadalupe without appropriate permits, and another $765,000 in alleged bribes to set up a refrigerated distribution center in an environmentally fragile area near Mexico City.
According to Monday's report, Wal-Mart's international real estate committee approved Walmex's plan to spend about $8 million on the Teotihuacan store. The committee consisted of 20 or so top executives including Chairman S. Robson Walton, according to the report. Walton is a son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.
The earlier Times report said a 2005 Wal-Mart inquiry had found some $24 million in suspect payments in Mexico, but the world's largest retailer essentially shut down the probe and didn't notify law enforcement officials until December 2011, after the New York Times informed Wal-Mart it was looking at the issue.
That report said Walmex had taken active steps to conceal the bribery from headquarters when it was happening, but alleged that senior Bentonville executives were involved in decisions about the internal investigation.
Wal-Mart lost $10 billion of its market value immediately following the report, and has since disclosed it has spent $30 million to update its global anti-corruption program and undertaken a massive investigation into the allegations.
Wal-Mart has incurred some $100 million in various costs related to the matter.
Also, in November, Wal-Mart disclosed it expanded its internal inquiry to cover bribery allegations in Brazil, China and India, and its joint venture in India suspended its finance chief and other employees as part of its inquiry.
Bribery and corruption are pervasive in Mexico, where the justice system is weak and lower-level public sector workers earn relatively low salaries. A study last year by Transparency International showed Mexican companies were perceived to be the third-most likely behind those in China and Russia to pay bribes abroad.
HSBC Bankers Get No Jail Time for Terrorist Financing While Somali Sentenced for Charity
By: Kevin Gosztola Sunday December 16, 2012 12:49 pm
HSBC Branch in Amman, Jordan (Flickr Photo by Travel Aficionado)
This past week, the Justice Department announced that HSBC Bank had agreed to forfeit $1.256 billion and “enter a deferred prosecution agreement” for engaging in money laundering that involved the financing of drug cartels and groups with ties to terrorism. The agreement indicated there would be no criminal prosecution. Not one bank executive or lower-level banker would be put on trial and possibly sentenced to jail for his or her role in allowing money to be transferred to drug cartels or terrorists.
Meanwhile, that same day, Nima Ali Yusuf, 26, a Somali woman who fled war-torn Somalia when she was a child, was sentenced to eight years in prison for sending $1,450 to “members of a terrorist organization in her native country.” The scale of the crime committed by Yusuf, who pled guilty to charges just over a year ago in December 2011, is incredibly minor and insignificant when compared to the acts engaged in by bank executives at HSBC.
Laid out in detail in a Senate report released in July of this year, HSBC was engaged in banking with the Al Rajhi Bank, which is run by members of the Al Rajhi family alleged to have been “major donors to al Qaeda or Islamic charities suspected of funding terrorism.” They established “their own nonprofit organizations in the United States that sent funds to terrorist organizations, or used Al Rajhi Bank itself to facilitate financial transactions for individuals or nonprofit organizations associated with terrorism” in the years after the September 11th attacks, according to the report.
In March 2002, the US Treasury Department conducted a “search of 14 interlocking business and nonprofit entities in Virginia associated with the SAAR Foundation, an Al Rajhi-related entity and the Al Rajhi family.
As outlined in the Senate report:
The SAAR Foundation is a Saudi-based nonprofit organization, founded by Sulaiman bin Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi in the 1970s, named after him, and used by him to support a variety of nonprofit endeavors, academic efforts, and businesses around the world. In 1983, the SAAR Foundation formed a Virginia corporation, SAAR Foundation, Inc., and operated it in the United States as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. In 1996, another nonprofit organization was incorporated in Virginia called Safa Trust Inc. These and other nonprofit and business ventures associated with the Al Rajhi family shared personnel and office space, primarily in Herndon, Virginia. In 2000, SAAR Foundation Inc. was dissolved but the Safa Trust continued to operate.
An affidavit filed by the United States in support of the search warrant alleged that the Safa Group appeared to be involved with providing material support to terrorism. Among other matters, it alleged that members of the Safa Group had transferred “large amounts of funds …directly to terrorist-front organizations since the early 1990’s,” including a front group for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad-Shikaki Faction, a designated terrorist organization. but the Safa Trust continued to operate. It also detailed a $325,000 donation by the Safa Trust to a front group for Hamas, another designated terrorist organization. In addition, the affidavit expressed suspicion about a transfer of over $26 million from members of the Safa Group to two offshore entities in the Isle of Man. The affidavit further alleged that “one source of funds flowing through the Safa Group [was] from the wealthy Al-Rajhi family in Saudi Arabia.”
The search produced about 200 boxes of information which was then analyzed and used in other investigations and prosecutions, although neither the SAAR Foundation or Safa Trust has been charged with any wrongdoing. In 2003, Abdurahman Alamoudi, who had worked for SAAR Foundation Inc. from 1985 to 1990, as executive assistant to its president, pled guilty to plotting with Libya to assassinate the Saudi crown prince and was sentenced to 23 years in jail. He had also openly supported Hamas and Hezbollah, two terrorist organizations designated by the United States. According to an affidavit supporting the criminal complaint against him, Mr. Alamoudi admitted receiving $340,000 in sequentially numbered $100 bills from Libya while in London, and planned “to deposit the money in banks located in Saudi Arabia, from where he would feed it back in smaller sums into accounts in the United States.” According to the affidavit, he also admitted involvement in similar cash transactions involving sums in the range of $10,000 to $20,000.
Additionally, a key founder of the Al Rajhi Bank was one of twenty key terror financiers Osama bin Laden dubbed the “Golden Chain.”
The small sum of money Yusuf is alleged to have provided pales in comparison to the transactions highlighted above, which HSBC is believed to have enabled in part through its business with the Al Rajhi Bank.
Yusuf wrote a letter to the judge seeking to explain her contributions saying they were “motivated by a desire to provide food and medical care for those in need.” Her attorneys backed her up on this saying she had wanted to help “friends with living expenses and debt relief” and never intended to provide “direct support” to any members of al-Shabaab.
According to her lawyers, Yusuf “discouraged the young men from engaging in martyrdom operations, such as suicide attacks but was otherwise supportive of their willingness to give up everything to fight against the Ethiopian troops and the transitional federal government of which she herself had been a victim.” (Her lawyers suggest she was sympathetic to al Shabaab, even if she opposed certain tactics of fighting.)
In December 2010, Yusuf was one of four Somalis being prosecuted for giving money to people in Somalia. Local Somalis skeptical of the prosecutions, like Bashir Hassan, expressed the feeling that the government was criminalizing Muslims.
Hassan urged federal prosecutors to understand that “most Somalis here regularly send money to their homeland.” He added, “People are starving. People don’t have food to eat. So if you have some extra bucks, you better send them so they can survive. So sending money is something routine to our community.”
An attorney defending an imam charged with supporting al Shabaab in Somalia declared, “I think Islamic giving, because that’s part of the religion, has given difficulties to the government because they don’t know how to deal with this…How can we stop Muslims from giving money? Because we really can’t attack their religion directly because that would blow up in our face.’ And I think these are politically motivated cases because really the government I don’t think wants Muslims to give.”
There does not appear to have been any intent to support the terrorism of al Shabaab proven in Yusuf’s case, but all the prosecutors had to prove was there was a transaction where money likely wound up in the hands of Shabaab fighters and that was enough for a conviction. In contrast, in the case of HSBC one wonders what the bank would have had to do to be prosecuted criminally for their actions and have executives go to jail. The Justice Department found they had violated the Trading with the Enemy Act—the act a bank would be convicted of violating if they were financing or providing material support to terrorism. Whether they intended to violate these acts or not, they did commit violations so at least some from HSBC should be facing the prospect of being sentenced to jail.
What if any of the HSBC bank executives involved in allowing or looking the other way had been Muslims?
In a 2009 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, the discriminatory enforcement against Muslim charities was highlighted the US government crackdown on Muslim charities for giving money to troubled areas where terrorism activities were believed to be occurring:
Within the space of ten days in December 2001, the federal government froze the assets of the three largest Muslim charities in the United States—the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, Global Relief Foundation, and Benevolence International Foundation—effectively shutting each of them down. The government seized these charities’ assets during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, at the height of annual Muslim charitable giving. These charities, which had been operating without incident for years—and for over a decade in the case of the Holy Land Foundation—were not on any government watch list before their assets were frozen. Indeed, before it was shut down the Holy Land Foundation had made repeated requests to government officials for assistance in complying with the law, only to be rebuffed.
The ACLU characterized this crackdown as the “start of a pattern of conduct that violated the fundamental rights of American Muslim charities.” And it “has chilled American Muslims’ charitable giving in accordance with their faith, seriously undermining American values of due process and commitment to First Amendment freedoms.” (The Holy Land Foundation case is particularly egregious. Five individuals are in prison now and their cases can be read about here.)
Depending on one’s ethnicity, religion, class or occupation, the system of justice (or injustice) in America is now that a major bank can settle for what in HSBC’s case was, according to Matt Taibbi, about two months’ worth of profits when they engage in terrorist financing or banking where money is being transferred to drug cartels.
Executives can expect pretty “swift justice” too. The Senate report that created headlines was put out in the summer and in less than six months the Justice Department had an agreement with a settlement worked out. Yusuf was charged in 2010, pled guilty about a year later and then was in confinement for another year before being sentenced for 8 years for giving a little over a thousand to some poor people she knew and wanted to help in Somalia, the country where she was born.
The overwhelming conclusion one can draw is there is no limit to the political will the Justice Department or Treasury Department has to crackdown on Muslims for charity. They will go to immeasurable lengths to conflate giving with financing of terrorism. Jewish and Christian organizations give to countries with ongoing conflicts in ways similar to Muslim organizations and do not face government prosecutions. On the other hand, the Justice Department and the Treasury Department have no political will to hold banks accountable for crimes of terrorist financing with groups that have ties to al Qaeda. They will bend over backwards to ensure there is an outcome where the bank appears to be brought to justice but is not broken in such a way that it cannot continue business as usual.
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/12/16/hsbc-executives-get-no-jail-time-for-terrorist-financing-while-somali-sentenced-for-giving/ Op-Ed: HSBC criminals escape punishment in money laundering settlement LIKE THIS ARTICLE13 Ken By Ken Hanly Dec 16, 2012
New York - While HSBC was fined $1.9 billion for money laundering activities as well as illegal transactions involving several sanctioned countries, not a single individual at the bank faced criminal charges. Writing in his Rolling Stone blog, Matt Taibbi, claims what he calls the outrageous HSBC settlement proves that the war on drugs is a joke. While I am sure that it does not prove that, it does prove that the government is inconsistent and hypocritical to put it mildly. As Taibbi points out, individuals can be arrested and put in jail for having a stem of marijuana in their pocket or "drug paraphernalia" in their gym bag.
Assistant Attorney General, Lanny Breuer signed off on a deal that will see HSBC pay a financial settlement of $1.9 billion dollars. There were no criminal charges against any individuals, even though the bank admits to laundering billions for Mexican drug cartels, violating the Bank Secrecy Act and also the Trading with the Enemy Act. There were no criminal prosecutions against the bank either. Breuer admitted that some of the laundering transactions were so brazen they could be easily detected. In some HSBC's Mexican branches, there were deposits of hundreds of thousands of cash in one day into a single account. The depositors used boxes specially made to fit into the precise dimensions of the teller windows! Although not explicitly stated, apparently the rationale of the government for not pursuing criminal cases against individuals at the bank was that to do so when the individuals were employees of such an important bank, might threaten the stability of the financial system. Taibbi thinks that such action, far from protecting the system, can leave investors with the impression that even the most reputable banks can work for the interests of drug dealers and for countries that are supposed to be under sanction. Instead of individuals being found criminally culpable, the bank is given a fine that could very well be seen just as a cost of doing business. Some of the financial penalties are ludicrous. Breuer announced that as a result of the government investigation HSBC has "clawed back" deferred compensation bonuses for some of its most senior U.S. anti-money laundering and compliance officers over the next five years. So they still get bonuses even after what they allowed to happen but are forced only to partially defer them! Taibbi contrasts this "punishment" of culpable individuals at HSBC with what often happens to ordinary Americans involved in drug cases. Anthony Smelley received $50,000 in a settlement for a car accident. He was carrying $17,000 cash in his car. Cops stopped him and searched it for drugs. Drug sniffing dogs gave alerts twice. However, no drugs were found. The cops took the cash anyway. Even after he produced documentation of the source of money, Putnam County officials tried to keep the money on the grounds he might buy drugs with it in the future. Lanny Breuer's Justice Department does well in forfeiture cases depositing almost $1.8 billion a year. In New York city, one out of every seven cases ending up in court involves marijuana. In 2010 New York police made 50,377 pot-related arrests. This is even though the laws are relatively liberal compared to many jurisdictions. The public defender explains how it works: "What they do is, they stop you on the street and tell you to empty your pockets. Then the instant a pipe or a seed is out of the pocket – boom, it's 'public use.' And you get arrested." People often spend nights in jail after arrest. Even if the person is let off with a misdemeanor plus time served, you must pay $200 and have your DNA extracted. You need to pay an extra $50 dollars for that! The HSBC decision shows that if you happen to be an important cog in an important institution in the global financial system you will not serve time nor a fine. Taibbi concludes that the U.S. government is in the business of jailing the drug addict, the victim of the drug cartels, but at the same time doing nothing to those in the banking system who serve as enablers, at least nothing in the way of criminal prosecutions. None of this makes the war on drugs a joke. It is a profitable business. Fighting the war, not only provides salaries for all those involved but also collects revenues through fines and forfeitures,.and now an extra bonus of $1.9 billion from a large bank. There are also all the multiplier effects, including the need for more jails which can be farmed out to private contractors, and jobs created as new prisons must be built and staffed.
123 billion US dollars = 67.33 lakh crore Indian rupees Conversion rate used: 1 USD = 54.7391 INR Published: December 18, 2012 17:18 IST | Updated: December 18, 2012 17:24 IST India’s black money loss in 10 years: $123 bn
PTI
AP In 2010 alone, the Indian economy suffered $1.6 billion in illicit financial outflows. However, India’s loss is far less than that of China, which according to the report suffered a loss of $ 2.74 trillion
India lost $123 billion in black money during 2001-2010, a U.S.-based research and advocacy organisation said in a report.
However, India’s loss is far less than that of China, which according to the report suffered a loss of $ 2.74 trillion during the same period (2001 to 2010), followed by Mexico ($476 billion), Malaysia ($285 billion), Saudi Arabia ($201 billion), Russia ($152 billion), the Philippines ($138 billion) and Nigeria ($129 billion).
India is the eight largest victim of black money loses, said the report ‘Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2001—2010,’ released by Global Financial Integrity (GFI). India is the only South Asian country to figure in the top 20 list of such nations.
In 2010 alone, the Indian economy suffered $1.6 billion in illicit financial outflows.
“$123 billion is a massive amount of money for the Indian economy to lose,” said Dev Kar, GFI lead economist and co-author of the report.
“It has very real consequences for Indian citizens. This is more than $100 billion which could have been used to invest in education, healthcare, and upgrade the nation’s infrastructure. Perhaps last summer’s electrical blackout would have been avoided if some of this money had remained in India and been used to invest in the nation’s power grid,” he said.
While progress has been made in recent years, India continues to lose a large amount of wealth in illicit financial outflows, said GFI director Raymond Baker.
“Much focus has been paid in the media on recovering the Indian black money that has already been lost. This focus is for naught as long as the Indian economy continues to hemorrhage illicit money. Policymakers and commentators should make curtailing the ongoing outflow of money priority number one,” he said.
New Report Finds Crime, Corruption, and Tax Evasion at Near-Historic Highs in 2010
Illicit Financial Outflows Cost Developing World $859 Billion in 2010, Rebounding Rapidly from Financial Crisis
Nearly $6 Trillion Stolen from Poor Countries in Decade between 2001 and 2010
WASHINGTON, DC – Crime, corruption, and tax evasion cost the developing world $858.8 billion in 2010, just below the all-time high of $871.3 billion set in 2008—the year preceding the global financial crisis. The findings are part of a new study released today by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based research and advocacy organization.
The report, “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2001-2010,” is GFI’s annual update on the amount of money flowing out of developing economies via crime, corruption and tax evasion, and it is the first of GFI’s reports to include data for the year 2010.
Co-authored by GFI Lead Economist Dev Kar and GFI Economist Sarah Freitas, the study is the first by GFI to incorporate a new, more conservative, estimate of illicit financial flows, facilitating comparisons with previous estimates from GFI updates.
“Astronomical sums of dirty money continue to flow out of the developing world and into offshore tax havens and developed country banks,” said GFI Director Raymond Baker. “Regardless of the methodology, it’s clear: developing economies are hemorrhaging more and more money at a time when rich and poor nations alike are struggling to spur economic growth. This report should be a wake-up call to world leaders that more must be done to address these harmful outflows.”
Methodology
As developing countries begin to loosen capital controls, the possibility exists that the methodology utilized in previous GFI reports—known as the World Bank Residual Plus Trade Mispricing method—could increasingly pick-up some licit capital flows. The methodology introduced in this report— the Hot Money Narrow Plus Trade Mispricing method—ensures that all flow estimates are strictly illicit moving forward, but may omit some illicit financial flows detected in the previous methodology.
“The estimates provided by either methodology are still likely to be extremely conservative as they do not include trade mispricing in services, same-invoice trade mispricing, hawala transactions, and dealings conducted in bulk cash,” explained Dr. Kar, who previously served as a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund. “This means that much of the proceeds of drug trafficking, human smuggling, and other criminal activities, which are often settled in cash, are not included in these estimates.”
Findings
The $858.8 billion of illicit outflows lost in 2010 is a significant uptick from 2009, which saw developing countries lose $776.0 billion under the new methodology. The study estimates the developing world lost a total of $5.86 trillion over the decade spanning 2001 through 2010.1
“This has very big consequences for developing economies,” explained Ms. Freitas, a co-author of the report. “Poor countries lost nearly a trillion dollars that could have been used to invest in healthcare, education, and infrastructure. It’s nearly a trillion dollars that could have been used to pull people out of poverty and save lives.”
Dr. Kar and Ms. Freitas’ research tracks the amount of illegal capital flowing out of 150 different developing countries over the 10-year period from 2001 through 2010, and it ranks the countries by magnitude of illicit outflows. According to the report, the 20 biggest exporters of illicit financial flows over the decade are:
China ....................... $274 billion average ($2.74 trillion cumulative)
For a complete ranking of average annual illicit financial outflows by country, please refer to Table 2 of the report’s appendix on page 36, or download the rankings by average annual illicit outflows here [PDF | 51 KB].
Also revealed are the top exporters of illegal capital in 2010, which were:
China ..................................................... $420.36 billion
Malaysia .................................................. $64.38 billion
Trinidad and Tobago .................................. $4.33 billion
Brazil ........................................................... $4.29 billion
An alphabetical listing of illicit financial outflows is available for each country in Table 9 on pg. 62 of the report. You can also download the alphabetical listing of illicit financial flows data for each country here [PDF | 64 KB].
Connections to Previous GFI Studies
China, the largest cumulative exporter of illegal capital flight, as well as the largest victim in 2010, was the topic of an October 2012 country-specific report by GFI’s Kar and Freitas. Using the older methodology, “Illicit Financial Flows from China and the Role of Trade Misinvoicing,” found that the Chinese economy suffered $3.79 trillion in illicit financial outflows between 2000 and 2011.
“Our reports continue to demonstrate that the Chinese economy is a ticking time bomb,” said Dr. Kar. “The social, political, and economic order in that country is not sustainable in the long-run given such massive illicit outflows.”
Mexico, the second-largest cumulative exporter of illicit capital over the decade, was also the topic of a January 2011 GFI report by Dr. Kar. The study, “Mexico: Illicit Financial Flows, Macroeconomic Imbalances, and the Underground Economy,” found that Mexico lost a total of $872 billion in illicit financial flows over the 41-year period from 1970 to 2010. Moreover, illicit outflows were found to drive Mexico’s domestic underground economy, which includes—among other things—drug smuggling, arms trafficking and human trafficking.
Possible Solutions
Global Financial Integrity advocates that world leaders increase the transparency in the international financial system as a means to curtail the illicit flow of money highlighted by Dr. Kar and Ms. Freitas’ research. Policies advocated by GFI include:
Addressing the problems posed by anonymous shell companies, foundations, and trusts by requiring confirmation of beneficial ownership in all banking and securities accounts, and demanding that information on the true, human owner of all corporations, trusts, and foundations be disclosed upon formation and be available to law enforcement;
Reforming customs and trade protocols to detect and curtail trade mispricing;
Harmonizing predicate offenses under anti-money laundering laws across all Financial Action Task Force cooperating countries; and
Ensuring that the anti-money laundering regulations already on the books are strongly enforced.
Funding
Funding for the new report, “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2001-2010,” was generously provided by the Ford Foundation.
###
Footnotes:
The less conservative, methodology used in previous GFI updates measured $936.1 billion in 2009. Were the previous methodology applied to 2010, it would have measured $1.138 trillion in illicit outflows from the developing world, a 26 percent increase over the previous year. Table 11 on pg. 70 provides a breakdown of illicit financial flow estimates for each country based on the original methodology.
Data for Iraq was not available in 2001-2004, thus the average illicit outflows of US$10.6 billion reflect only the years 2005-2010. Likewise, the cumulative outflows of US$63.6 billion for Iraq are cumulative outflows for 2005 through 2010 only.
Notes to Editors:
More information about the GFI report is available on the GFI website here. A PDF of the full report can bedownloaded here [PDF | 3.3 MB]. An “Explore” page, complete with an interactive heat-map, and .zip files of the report’s data is available here.
A tip-sheet for journalists can be downloaded here [PDF | 222 KB].
A PDF with full country rankings by average annual illicit financial outflows is available here [PDF | 51 KB].
An alphabetical listing of total illicit financial flows data for each country each year is available here [PDF | 64 KB].
A separate press release for Indian journalists is available here.
All monetary values are listed in US dollars (USD).
To schedule an interview with GFI spokespersons on this report, contact Clark Gascoigne at +1 202 293 0740, ext. 222 or cgascoigne@gfintegrity.org. On-camera spokespersons are available in Washington, DC.
Global Financial Integrity (GFI) is a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization which promotes transparency in the international financial system.
WHY INDIA NEEDS TO PREPARE FOR THE DECLINE OF THE WEST
December 15, 2012 · by Vaidya · in First Post
Two reports released this week in the US will have significant and far-reaching implications for countries like India. These reports are: Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, by the US National Intelligence Council, and US Strategy for a Post-Western World: Envisioning 2030, by the Atlantic Council.
These reports should be read and digested by countries like India as we need to prepare strategies to deal with the post-Anglo-Saxon era. The reports are available.
Firstpost is no stranger to these ideas. In an earlier article, Decline of the West, we had expected the decline to accelerate in the coming years. The decline stems not only from the shift in economic power, as the above two reports suggest, but from a fall in societal values.
People are comforted near Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday after a man killed 26 people, including 20 children. AP
Friday’s massacre of school children in Connecticut is yet another indicator of the loss of sovereignty of the family. The gunman could have come from a dysfunctional family system and gun culture is destroying the US social fabric.
In the earlier article, we had recalled the pioneering study of Angus Maddison for the OECD, in which he demonstrated that till 1820 India and China had nearly 50 percent of the global GDP before their decline started. From that point of view, we are “re-emerging markets” and not emerging markets. Nearly 200 years of western dominance are coming to a close, and, as predicted by Sri Aurobindo, “India will rise from the ruins of the western civilisation.”
The above mentioned two reports tell us something we always hesitate to believe till someone from the west confirms it for us. The reports indicate how China and India will be more powerful than the US by 2030. One of the reports also suggests that Asian cultures will supersede America’s and Europe’s in 20 years as the global middle class grows. But it also predicts that competition for resources, including food, space and water, will be fierce.
Five trends which will have far-reaching implications for the west and us are the following:
*The west’s problems are related to the decline of the family as an institution and household savings.
*Demography is increasing the proportion of old people in the population.
*Rising longevity is leading to a social security crisis which will bankrupt governments.
*The decline of the church and belief systems – both in Europe and US – could have major implications
*The Westphalia consensus about the sovereignty of nations which are not western/white is over.
These trends have not been adequately dealt with in the main reports possibly because they are focused more on economics, energy, etc. But the building blocks of any civilisation start with the family, and this has gone for a six in the western world without alternate institutions emerging.
During the early nineties, more than 50 percent of global GDP, adjusted for purchasing power parity, was with the G7 countries (predominantly white/western), with the major emerging markets like India and China accounting for 36 percent. But this has already reversed. It is expected that the original G7 countries will have less than 30 percent of global GDP by 2020. Also, the forecast for growth rates in the coming years is either negative or a very low number.
The unemployment rate in many European countries like Spain and Greece is more than 20 percent and among youth (aged 16 to 24 years) it is nearing 50 percent. Europe had nearly 25 percent of the world population during World War I and now it is around 11 percent and expected to be 3-4 percent in another 20 years.
Britain has fallen out of love with marriage. The 2011 Census shows that the number of married people has fallen to 20.4 million, nearly 200,000 less than a decade ago. A quarter of the people in England and Wales are single, while the number of those cohabiting has risen from 9.8 percent of the population to 11.9 percent. Growing numbers of people are also choosing to divorce.
The breaking up of the family has put tremendous pressure on the state to sustain single parent/single women families and also the elderly. This has put their social security schemes – if at all funded – under strain.
Europe has become secular, which is a euphemism for renouncing or ignoring the church. For instance, the recent census in the UK has revealed that there has been a decline of 12 percent in people belonging to Christianity and 25 percent of the population said they had no faith – an increase from 15 percent a decade earlier.
The UK is also exhibiting tendencies in societal behaviour more typical of third world countries. For instance, urinating in the streets is becoming a major issue and the town of Chester is using innovative ways to punish offenders like asking them to maintain local heritage sites.
The French are grappling with the issues of illegitimacy and failure of the family system. An ex-French law minster had simultaneous relationships with eight men and it is becoming difficult to ascertain who is the father of her kid. In another decade, many French kids may be able to identify their fathers only through DNA tests.
The USA is facing similar issues. In 2010, more than 50 percent of children were born out of wedlock and illegitimacy is the new norm. Among blacks, it is 75 percent and among Latinos more than 55 percent.
The US faces an unprecedented crisis since families have been nationalised and businesses privatised. Society has become dysfunctional. This year, more than half the births are of non- white children, giving rise to the possibility of the US becoming a non-white majority country in another 30 years when Spanish and Chinese could become major languages. This could have a tremendous impact among Mid-West and Southern Bible-thumpers like Rush Limbaugh. This could give rise to sharper social conflicts and open up the old civil war fault lines.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal last year (10 October 2011), nearly half of US households received some form of government benefits like food stamps, subsidised housing, cash welfare or Medicare or Medicaid (the federal-state healthcare programme for the poor) or social security. The US is also a stock market economy where half the households have investments, and recent bank and corporate failures have hit them hard.
Under the circumstances India needs to strategise for the future.
We should recognize that for most of the Indian elite, their umbilical cords are linked to the west. Many of them are/were educated in the US or Europe, and most of them have their children studying or working there. Due to colonial genes, acceptance/recognition by the west is critical for average middle class Indians.
The danger is that we are going to buy their failed models when they are in decline. They will try to sell us everything they have, and we will buy because of our colonial genes. They will hire more Indians to head global companies as showpieces in order to penetrate our markets.
The reality, that the west is in decline and many of its institutions are failing, has still not struck us and we will continue to try and imitate them – including dysfunctional family systems. We should recognize that we are a civilization and not just a market. Today funds are in search of markets and not the other way round. Instead of heading global institutions, we should acquire them.
Civilisationally, we are nearer to the East than the West. We should take the lead along with others in the East to create alternative institutions to the World Bank, the IMF and the UN. The need is to recognize that the old debate about big business or big government is passé. Our ability to look beyond Marx and market into our thriving communities and bazaars will provide us answers to many issues.
Will India, as Aurobindo mentioned, rise from the ruins of the West?
Chennai: Less than a year after TamilN aduemployed mentally ill people as part of a pilot project in February 2012,the Union rural development ministry has written to the states asking them to try to provide mentally and physically disabled people with a livelihood under the Mahatma Gandhi NationalRuralU rban Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA ). Wehavesentthe newoperational guidelines of the MNREGAto allstates.They include several new provisions for thedisabled, said an email statement from rural development minister Jairam Rameshsoffice. This means mentally ill people across the country can each earn Rs 10,000 a year with jobsunder thescheme. The new draft guidelines,a copyof whichiswithTOI,says each state should formulate a plan,listing specific works identified for vulnerable people and ways to track the schemes coverage in rural areas.It recommends the designation of one officer in each district exclusively to look after the requirements of such people. Thisofficer shouldensure certain facilities arein placeto make work simpler for them.He could also come up with modification of tools for disabled people, said an officer with the rural development ministry.We know the disabled have limitations so we have prescribed simple work andshorter working hours. The move comes after the Centre studied the results of the pilot study in Tamil Nadu,which found that physically and mentally disabled people could complete jobs assigned tothem within a specified period and also work in a group.It was the first state to attempt to use the scheme for the benefit of the disabled.The extension of gainful employment improved their physical health and sorted out behavioral issues. It makesthem feel productive and appear to be productive to society,which boosts their self-esteem, says Soumitra Pathare,consultant psychiatrist at Centre for Mental Health,Law and Policy at Indian Law Society in Pune.Mentally ill people face stigma which stems from the belief that they are unproductive, hesays. The guidelines recommend giving disabled people preference for jobs as MNREGA employees mates for simple jobs like providing drinking water,managing crches andclearing garbage. pratiksha.ramkumar@timesgroup.com
Mentally ill patients across the country can each earn Rs 10,000 a year
Apex Court Says Drinking Water Will Get Priority Over Irrigation Purposes
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed Karnataka to furnish all information on the amount of Cauvery water it shared with Tamil Nadu since 1992 and said out-ofthe-box thinking would be required from both states to sort out the dispute.A bench of Justices R M Lodha and J Chelameswar asked Karnataka to submit its report on Tuesday when it will hear the plea on passing interim direction on sharing of water by the two states. The bench also observed that requirement of drinking water for Karnataka should be given priority over water needed by Tamil Nadu for irrigation purposes.Some equitable sharing has to be done.Some out-of-the-box thinking is required.There has to be some interim solution, the bench said,while pulling up Karnataka for not adhering to the formula of water sharing. Earlier on December 5,the Supreme Court had directed Karnataka to release 10,000 cusecs of Cauvery water daily to its neighbouring state and asked the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) to hold a meeting to decide the amount of water required by each state.The committee had then directed Karnataka to provide Tamil Nadu with 12tmcft of Cauvery water during December and did not pass any order for the month of January as the Centre had assured the Supreme Court that it would notify the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award by December 31.During the earlier hearing on November 26,the court had asked the chief ministers of the two states to meet and arrive at an amicable solution to the sensitive dispute. The talks between the chief ministers,however,failed to break the deadlock on the water-sharing row and the matter again reached the Supreme Court. Once a gazette notification is issued,the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) chaired by the Prime Minister and the CMC will cease to exist.The tribunal,comprising chairman Justice N P Singh and members N S Rao and Sudhir Narain,in an unanimous award in February 2007 had determined the total availability of water in the Cauvery basin. The proceedings of the tribunal,set up in June 1990,went on for more than 16 years.In what was then described as a balancing act,the tribunal gave Tamil Nadu 419tmcft of water (as against the demand of 562tmcft); Karnataka 270tmcft (as against its demand of 465tmcft); Kerala 30tmcft and Puducherry 7tmcft.For environmental protection,it had reserved 10tmcft. The tribunals award will come into effect within 90 days of its notification by the Centre.As per law,the award comes into being after being notified by the Centre through its publication in a gazette.AGENCIES
RUNNING DRY: With drinking water getting priority and the water level in the Mettur dam on Monday at 34.57ft (full level 120ft),Tamil Nadu farmers may lose the samba crop too
Court Asks Police To Submit Probe Report By February 14
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Hyderabad: In an embarrassment for the Congress,a court in RangaReddy district of Greater Hyderabad on Monday directed police to investigate whether the former and current Union home ministers P Chidambaram and Sushilkumar Shinde had cheated the people of Telangana by giving assurances on the separate state demand and then backtracking on it. Based on a petition filed by the Telangana Junior Advocates Association,the court asked police to probe the matter and submit a status report by February 14. Petitioner Naresh Kumar,president of the advocates association,said that statements of Chidambaram and Shinde on Telangana had both raised and dashed hopes of the people,and sought the courts directions to refer the matter to police for probe under section 420 of IPC. Accordingly,the second metropolitan magistrate court directed the L B Nagar police to investigate the matter and file a status report before it by February 14.To investigate the matter,the police will have to first register a cheating case against the two Congress leaders, Naresh Kumar said. Chidambaram was called to account for his statement on December 9,2009 as Union home minister,when he had announced that the Centre was initiating the process for the creation of Telangana. However,on December 23,2009 Chidambaram took back his statement following an agitation in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions against the division.The petitioner said this was an uncalled for volte-face aimed at cheating the people. Shinde was charged with cheating for assuring the Telangana people after the all-party meeting on December 28,2012 that a decision on the separate state demand would be taken within a month,only for the Congress to annul the deadline on Sunday. Meanwhile,Cyberabad police commissioner Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao said they have yet to receive the court orders in this regard.Asked if the police would lodge any case against the Union ministers,the senior police officer said,We have to first go through the order copy and act accordingly.
T-men to step up stir,block roads
Hyderabad and the other Telangana districts continued to reverberate with protests and preventive arrests on Monday even as the Samara Deeksha held by the pro-Telangana outfits vowed to step up the agitation in view of the Congress-led UPA government opting to keep on dithering on the issue. The Telangana leaders,including TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao said the agitations would include blocking the national and state highways linking Telangana to the other two regions and issued an ultimatum to the Congress elected representatives from the region,including ministers to immediately quit their posts and the party or face the wrath of the Telangana people. The T-JAC called upon people to boycott Congress leaders from the region.However,the T Congress MPs and ministers took divergent views on Monday with the former threatening to send their resignation letters to party president Sonia Gandhi and the latter reposing their faith on the Congress chief and refusing to quit.TNN
Pro-Telangana lawyers during a rally in Hyderabad hold photos of ministers urging them to quit their posts in support of separate statehood
XLRI goes for re-evaluation of all 92,000 answer papers
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: The answer books of over 92,000 management aspirants who took the Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) were re-evaluated and fresh results declared on Monday evening;the marks that were released 10 days ago have been nullified.XLRI (Xavier Labour Relations Institute),Jamshedpur,the institution that conducts the XAT,for the first time,re-evaluated all the papers of their entrance exam on the basis of merely two complaints from students. The decision gains importance at a time when Indias top B-schools do not allow their aspirants to apply for reevaluation.Like the CAT,scores of the XAT are accepted by 91 other management schools across India. More than 92,000 candidates had taken the XAT on January 6,2013,the results of which were declared on January 17.The scores were particularly low in QT section of the paper,when compared with the corresponding scores in answer keys published by different coaching institutes.XLRI later received two complaints from students who claimed a technical error had taken place and their scores in the quantitative techniques (QT) section were erroneous. One of the two complaints was prima facie without any basis.But then when I looked at the other complaint,I realised there was probably a technical error in the computer programme, said Vishwa Ballabh,admission chairperson.If there is an error,we cannot be choosy and change the result of only those who complained.We decided to re-look at all the results as the emphasis of an exam must be on fairness. The revised scores and percentile of all candidates were updated on XLRI website by Monday.While it is difficult to give a range of how much every students score has slid by,the minimum cutoff placed by XLRI for the QT section is down from 90% to 76.2%.
New Delhi: The Taj heritage corridor scam is back to haunt former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati with the Supreme Court deciding to examine whether the trial proceeding against her were closed in a legally correct manner. Appearing for a petitioner,senior advocate Shanti Bhushan said the high court did not adjudicate the law point whether sanction at all was needed for proceeding with the trial.Instead,it carved out a new case that sanction having been refused by the competent authority,the designated court did not have any jurisdiction to proceed with the matter;whereas,the order refusing sanction by the competent authority was not an issue at all. In July 6,2012,the apex court had quashed a disproportionate assets (DA) case,allegedly linked to the Taj heritage corridor scam,saying the court had never desired the CBI to register a FIR against Mayawati in the case.But three months later,it entertained a review petition.
New Delhi: Indias elusive nuclear weapon triad the capability to fire nukes from the land,air and sea has taken another leap closer to becoming an operational reality.Even as the indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant gets ready for sea trials,the countrys first underwater ballistic missile successfully completed its developmental trials on Sunday. With this twelfth test of the K-15 missile conducted from a submerged platform or pontoon in the Bay of Bengal,DRDO officials said the 750-km range submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) was now ready for induction. The two-stage missile,which rapidly climbed to a 20-km altitude after being launched from the pontoon,was tested for its full range over 700-km.Only the US,Russia,France and China have successfully developed SLBMs till now, said an official.
Missile can carry 1-tonne nuke warhead
T his was its last developmental test,in which all mission objectives were met.Now,the 10-metre tall missile,which can carry a one-tonne nuclear warhead,will undergo a usertrial within a month before its integrated into the submarine, the official added. There is reason to cheer but the bubbly can only be popped once the K-15 missiles are successfully tested from the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant,the countrys first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine,which is now all set to undergo sea-acceptance trials after its miniature 83 MW pressurized light-water reactor goes critical at Visakhapatnam soon. Navy chief Admiral D K Joshi last month had alluded to this,holding that the nation would get good news on this front very soon.INS Arihant has been undergoing extensive harbor-acceptance trials,with all its pipelines being cleared and tested on shore-based steam for several months now,before its reactor is fired for the sea-trials. Built with four silos to carry 12 K-15 s,or four of the 3,500-km range K-4 missiles under-development at present,INS Arihant will of course have to test-fire the 10-tonne missile during the sea trials before it can be said that Indias long-awaited nuclear triad has finally become operational. The first two legs of the triad,already in place with the armed forces,are the Agni series of missiles and fighters like Sukhoi-30 MKIs and Mirage-2000 s configured to deliver nuclear warheads. The absence of an operational SLBM,however,has for long left a big credibility gap in the countrys nuclear deterrence posture.Only a nuclear-powered submarine,which can stay underwater for extended periods,armed with nuclear-tipped missiles can provide a country with effective and difficult-to-detect second or retaliatory strike capabilities.
Nexus between Delhi govt and power firms: Kejriwal
Himanshi Dhawan TNN
New Delhi: Joining the battle for the 2013 assembly elections,Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan on Friday accused Delhi government and power regulator Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) of turning a blind eye as power distribution companies fudged records to show artificial losses and inflate electricity bills at the expense of consumers. They alleged that people were being forced to pay double of what they should be billed,with both Delhi government and DERC taking decisions to favour discoms,including putting a 2010-2011 order proposing a 23% reduction in tariff on hold.The expose will be followed by a series of similar scams being brought before the public.Asking Delhi consumers to pay only half of their electricity bill,Kejriwal said his party would create awareness on this issue through a series of meetings for the next 21 days.He added that on Saturday he would expose how water prices had increased 18-fold. Reacting to chief minister Sheila Dik****s observation that the tariff hike was not in her control,Kejriwal said,What kind of excuse is this When the tariff has to be raised,it is not in her control,but when DERC recommended a reduction,she intervened and stopped it. Demanding a CAG audit of companies and lodging of an FIR against the discoms Anil Ambani-led BSES and Tata-led TPDDL Kejriwal alleged that DERC chairman P D Sudhakar had failed to check fraud billing despite a sample test check that revealed that 15,000 of the total 15 lakh consumers had been billed for zero amount despite consumption of electricity.In another instance of alleged cooking of books,BSES had shown power consumption and revenue earned from Delhi Jal Board and Delhi airport as nil in 2008-2009,he said.
No court or govt can ban screening of film
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Film Certification Appellate Tribunal,which hears appeals against the Censor Boards decisions,on Friday said no court or government had the authority to ban screening of a movie once it had been cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Slamming the Jayalalithaa governments decision to stop screening of Kamal Hasans film Vishwaroopam in the state,FCAT chairperson Lalit Bhasin said,Once a film has been cleared by CBFC,it would not be open to the courts or authorities to impose any ban or restriction on the screening of the film. He said the CBFC performed an elaborate and complex function of certification of films and its decisions were final unless challenged before the statutory tribunal FCAT. The state governments action in banning Vishwaroopam in Tamil Nadu and the derogatory observations made by its counsel in the court against CBFC are totally unwarranted and in bad taste, Bhasin said in a statement.
Protesters tear Vishwaroopam poster in Mumbai on Friday
New Delhi: The heightened expectations from Rahul Gandhi have taken a new dimension. Amid a litany of complaints about Congress work culture and calls for a radical makeover,a leader surprised Rahul by demanding that he speak out on national issues to acquaint people of his views on critical subjects. You should speak on issues.People expect your opinion on national issues, sources quoted AICC secretary Vivek Bansal as saying at the first meeting of party officebearers called by Rahul after taking over as vice-president. The demand reflected the long-held opinion of party managers and workers that Rahuls comments on sensitive topics would give them the cue to counter the opposition campaign from time to time.The reticent heir apparent has repeatedly steered clear of specifics,a stance that aides have justified as his aversion to be seen as forcing the governments hand with his views. While his strong support for the India-US nuclear deal in the Congress Working Committee quelled the doubts among naysayers in UPA-1,paving the way for faceoff with ally Left Front,he also led the stridency against Pakistan for 26/11 by describing the Mumbai attacks as enemy slapping us in our home.The anger is believed to have ejected Shivraj Patil from the home ministry.However,Rahuls absence from the scene during the relentless protests over Nirbhayas rape and Anna Hazares agitation on corruption did not go down well with partymen and observers. Insiders believe the situation is set to change.Rahuls elevation as Congress No.2 has pitchforked him into the leadership position in an election year a move that would require him to air his views on day-to-day issues that would dominate the pollscape.
High graft risk in def purchases by India: Study
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: India is among the countries that suffer from high corruption risk in defence purchases,one of the most elaborate global assessments of corruption in the high spending sector has concluded. According to the report,Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index 2013 by Transparency International UK,36% of the countries assessed by the index was found to have high corruption risk.India and China are among those countries. The band in which India figures exhibits strong systems in some areas and very poor systems in others,the report said.Positives of most of these countries including India are payment systems and personnel receiving pay in a timely manner,absence of ghost soldiers etc. The report said that most of the countries in the band did not disclose the level of expenditure dedicated to secret spending,and did not audit these secret budgets.In China,the concentration of power created corruption risk,the report said. It is comprehensive,with each country analysed across 77 detailed questions on all aspects of a defence ministry and armed forces integrity-building and anti-corruption systems.It covers 82 countries,from the major arms producing countries through to fragile nations.It provides detailed analyses for each country that describe the mechanisms they have in place to prevent corruption in this sector,and how they could be strengthened.This provides nations with a wealth of material on which to base improvement, said Mark Pyman,director,Defence and Security Programme at Transparency International UK. The report said that only two countries,Australia and Germany,had high levels of transparency,and strong,institutionalised activity to address corruption risk.This unexpectedly small number of countries shows that defence anticorruption measures are still in their infancy.This holds true even among the many OECD countries that are among the 82 nations analysed,which generally have strong government institutions and rule of law, the report said. About 30% of the countries had generally high or moderate transparency,with some activity to address corruption risks,but with shortcomings.The rest of the nations had poor results,with 57 of the 82 countries,or 69%,scoring in the bottom three bands D,E and F.India figures in the D band.
STIFF COMPETITION Gujs good show in urban projects puts UPA in spot
Dipak Kumar Dash TNN
New Delhi: Gujarats high rating in urban infrastructure development projects under the Centres flagship JNNURM scheme seems to have become a new headache for the government at a time when UPA-2 would like to highlight its achievements before the next national polls. So far,a majority of models suggested by the Union urban development ministry to state governments are from Gujarat,whether its self-financing of a road project or intelligent traffic system for safe public transport. While another best model in public transport system has become a reality in BJP-ruled Karnataka,only one Congress-ruled state has followed suit -- Rajasthan with Alwar Vahini. In recent months,the UD ministry has issued four circulars on successful transport models which it recommended to state governments to adopt/emulate.The latest one was the Centre pushing the Surat model of developing an outer ring road without any government investment.Under this model,the project would generate about Rs 11,960 crore over five years against an investment of Rs 5,796 crore. Earlier,the ministry had asked the states to follow the G-Auto model of Ahmedabad where a cluster of auto rickshaws is managed through a common control room.The advisory for states had come after the Nirbhaya gang rape incident.There is no doubt that Gujarat has the best performance when it comes to urban infrastructure development and this cannot be ignored by anyone.So,there is nothing wrong if the Centre has asked others to learn and set such examples, said a ministry official. However,forthe Congressled UPA,this is a sour pill to swallow and allow Narendra Modis government to take the credit of successfully demonstrating best models of urban development.In fact,now with the Cabinet allowing the UD ministry to sanction new projects and capacity building of cities and municipal bodies till March 2014 totaling an investment of Rs 15,000 crore,the ministry is likely to take a decision on the criteria of sanctioning projects success rate or population. This should bring some relief to the UPA.The latest data on completion of UIG and UIDSSMT till December end publicized by the ministry shows that Arunachal Pradesh had 75% completion in both the categories,which is the highest.AIADMK-ruled Tamil Nadu ranked second with 68% completion and Andhra Pradesh came third with 57%.Gujarat ranked fourth in this category with 54% of projects getting completed.
Coal India fuel supply pacts with 11 firms under watchdog scanner
Sanjay Dutta TNN
New Delhi: Coal India Ltd (CIL) has gone out of its way to sign fuel supply pacts with 11 companies,including alleged Coalgate beneficiaries,even before these firms reached the qualifying milestones such as acquiring land,the state-run monopolys internal anticorruption watchdog has said. In a report to the coal ministry,a copy of which is available with TOI,CILs chief vigilance officer Manoj Kumar said supply pacts for 5,935MW or one-and-a-half times of the national capitals daily requirement have either been inked or cleared for signing in spite of deficiencies in documents. A fuel supply agreement (FSA) holds the key to disbursal of institutional funding for power projects.Lenders do not release money till a project arranges assured fuel supply.Thats why Coal Indias letter of assurance to promoters lays down milestones to check fly-by-night operators. Coming at a time when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Supreme Court are looking at the Comptroller and Auditor Generals (CAG) report on coal block allotment,the vigilance report indicates how CIL has failed to get the message against giving undue benefit to corporate houses. The report found three categories where terms of signing FSAs have fallen short.One,where the project is yet to acquire land or complete the transfer.Two,where promoters are yet to arrange financing for the project or achieve financial closure;and three,where a case has been referred back to CIL over commitment guarantee.
UNDUE HASTE
CILs chief vigilance officer says fuel supply pacts for 5,935MW either signed or cleared for signing in spite of deficiencies in documents The 11 companies include alleged Coalgate beneficiaries Fuel supply pacts key to lenders providing funds for power projects Executives of CIL,some of the companies dismiss report as nit-picking
8 pvt sector projects figure in CAG report
Eight private sector projects figure in the vigilance report.Three of them the Adhunik,Tata and SKS groups also figure in the Coalgate reports list of coal block allottees.Reliance Powers Rosa power plant too is among the 11 FSAs under vigilance lens. The federal auditors report on the Sasan ultra-mega power project being built by Reliance Power in public partnership had said the company benefited from the governments decision to allow diversion of surplus captive coal. There are three projects that are being promoted by central generation utility NTPC,DVC (formerly Damodar Valley Corporation) and UP Power Corporation Ltd.Executives of CIL and some of the identified companies dismissed the vigilance report as nitpicking.You know how vigilance works.There are public sector companies also in the list.But,of course,we are looking at the report, a senior CIL executive said on condition of anonymity. Executives said the discrepancies pointed out in the vigilance report were procedural matters.In some of these cases,promoters have given provisional letters from lenders and such like.These are ongoing processes, another official said.
MNREGA proves UPA’s put-up job WEDNESDAY, 06 FEBRUARY 2013 13:17 ARCHANA JYOTI | NEW DELHI
The UPA’s flagship rural job programme, MNREGA, is floundering. Despite huge social spending on the scheme, employment generation has declined substantially in the last three years: 54 days in 2009-10, 47 days in 2010-11, and 43 days in 2011-12. The trend suggests a further decline in 2013. Launched in 2006, the rural job scheme guarantees a minimum of 100 days of work in a year.
As per the “Report to the People” released by Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh last week, the day to person ratio per household till December 2012 in 632 districts is just 34. In other words, in the first three quarters of the fiscal year 2012-13, the national average was 34 working days per household.
During 2011-12, the Government spent `38,034 crore on the demand-driven scheme, of which 78 per cent was spent on wages. Overall, from 2006-07 to 2012-13 (up to December 2012) `1,29,000 crore was spent on wages.
The report shows that the average number of work days in economically poor States like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh is as low as 31. In these States, less than 10 per cent families got 100 days work in 2011-12.
In fact, the average annual jobs generated under MNREGA since its inception has never exceeded 54 days, though the scheme was launched with the aim to provide livelihood security in rural areas by guaranteeing at least 100 days employment in a financial year to every household.
Clearly, the much-ambitious programme, which got mired in corruption and irregularities, has failed to reach to the needy at the grassroots level.
As per various reports, local Governments have made wrong claims about the number of people who have received job cards. The additional fund is mostly embezzled by officials.
There are several cases of fake entries in the muster rolls, overwriting, false names and irregularities in job cards. Even the names of dead people feature in the muster rolls.
Concerned at the declining trend of employment generation, a Parliamentary panel led by senior Rajya Sabha member Sumitra Mahajan last year said: “The committee is constrained to believe that the basic methods of assessment of demand are flawed due to which the number of days of employment are receding. It appears that in the name of demand driven, no real efforts are made at local level to ensure that work is given to the people.”
The panel asked the Government to re-examine the entire implementation process, including creation of durable assets to take remedial measures. It also rejected the Government’s reply that recently a large number of additional activities/works have been included in Schedule-I of the Act to broaden scope of works under MGNREGA.
“Mere inclusion of the added categories of work will not help improve performance of MGNREGA unless it is augmented by strengthening capacity of Panchayats for planning,” said the panel.
Sheila Dik**** admits Delhi not safe for women, BJP demands resignation by FP Staff 5 mins ago
New Delhi: A day after an irod rod was shoved down the throat of a student while a man tried to rape her, Chief Minister Sheila Dik**** said, “Women don’t feel safe in Delhi.”
“Fears have risen. I’m shocked to learn about the Lajpat Nagar attempted rape case. It’s a big setback for us,” she said referring to the rape bid on a 19-year-old woman Tuesday.
The Class 9 student fought off the rape bid in her own house by an electricity contractor, who thrust an iron rod into her throat to quell her cries for help. The accused has been arrested.
Sheila Dik****. PTI However, the chief minister promised to do everything possible to provide safety to women.
“My government will do everything possible to provide a conducive atmosphere for the women in the city,” Dik**** said.
This is not the first time that Sheila Dik**** has admitted to security lapses in Delhi. In December 2012, after a 23-year-old was brutally gangraped inside a moving bus in the capital, the Delhi Chief Minister had said the city was unsafe.
Reacting to the Delhi Chief Minister’s statement, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Smriti Irani said, “I think this is an admission of bad governance.” Irani said she was outraged to see the Chief Minister passing the buck to the Central government. She said the Congress as a whole was failing to secure the citizens of the country.
Calling the Chief Minister’s statement ‘irresponsible’, Smriti Irani said it was the Chief Minister’s duty to ensure an administration that protects the city. Referring to Sheila Dik****’s television interviews of December 2012, in which she broke down while speaking on the Delhi gangrape, Irani said, “Shedding tears in public and fulfilling your responsibilities are two different things.”
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Brinda Karat criticised Dik****. “It is clear that women in Delhi are insecure. The chief minister is speaking the truth. But it is surely not enough. What is her responsibility as chief minister?
“Women’s security issues have become political football between central and state government. Chief minister blames Delhi Police; central government defends police. It’s a shame.”