IT Raids Expose Rs. 4,000 Crore Black Money in 11 Political Parties; ADR Flags Massive Money Laundering
The Income Tax Department has recently conducted raids in the offices of eleven political parties in the World Trade Tower in Ahmedabad and confiscated black money worth crores. These raids have been conducted in relation to money laundering of over Rs. 4,000 crore. The amount was so massive that tax authorities had to call a money counting machine.
During confiscation, the tax officials caught 150 debit cards, 150 bank passbooks, and more than 30 keypad mobile phones. In this context, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had also released a report.
According to the ADR reports, these eleven political parties had not contested any elections for five years, yet their total donations are 4,300 crore (43 billion rupees), which is actually more than many mainstream political parties in the country. Additionally, these political parties stated their total expenditure as 3,500 crore (35 billion rupees) in their expenditure statements submitted to the Election Commission.
By claiming these hefty expenditures, several parties, like the Lok Shahi Party, the Satyawadi Rakshak Party, and the New India United Party, had tried to mislead the Election Commission. In total, their total expenditure is just 3.9 million rupees.
Their office holders were just regular people like those living in slums, auto-rickshaw drivers, or small shop owners. When tax officials got to know about the fraud, they returned the donated money to their actual donors in cash, after subtracting a 5-10% commission. Several industrialists, builders, and businessmen from Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, and Jaipur were the donors to these political parties.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has accused these political parties of money laundering and tax evasion. Other than these, the Income Tax Department has also conducted raids on four other firms that were accused of transferring cash from one location to another.
