New Delhi, Apr 4: The Congress on Thursday alleged that the BJP's compulsion to get donations at all costs saw it go ahead with the electoral bonds scheme without heeding RBI's astute advice, as it claimed that over Rs 430 crore was donated to the ruling party by 33 companies that had negative or near zero profit.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh shared a report by The Hindu on X which said that 33 loss-making firms donated electoral bonds worth Rs 582 crore with 75 per cent going to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“There are four primary channels of corruption in the Electoral Bond Scam, and with each passing day, more examples emerge to confirm the shocking reality of the corruption which has engulfed this country through Narendra Modi's encouragement,” Ramesh alleged.
“An update on the latest revelations on the ‘Farzi Companies' who have been donating chanda to the BJP Chanda Do, Dhandha Lo; Theka Lo, Rishvat Do; Hafta Vasuli; Farzi Companies,” he said in a post on X.
Ramesh claimed that Rs 434.2 crore was donated to the BJP by 33 companies that had negative or near zero profit after tax in aggregate over seven years (2016-17 to 2022-23).
“The aggregate net losses of these 33 companies were over Rs 1 lakh crore. 16 out of these 33 companies paid zero or negative direct taxes in aggregate,” he said.
Most of these 33 companies are likely shell companies built for the purpose of money laundering, Ramesh said.
He also claimed that Rs 601 crore was donated to the BJP by six companies that had positive net profits in aggregate from 2016-17 to 2022-23, but whose electoral bond donations exceeded their aggregate net profit significantly.
These companies were likely acting as fronts for other companies, he alleged.
“When the Electoral Bonds Scheme was first floated by the Modi Sarkar, the RBI raised concerns regarding the high possibility of it being used for money laundering. The BJP's compulsion to get chanda at all costs saw it go ahead with this scheme without heeding this astute advice. The nation has paid the price!” Ramesh said.
Following a Supreme Court directive, the State Bank of India (SBI), which was the authorised seller of electoral bonds, shared the data with the poll panel on March 12.
The SBI said a total of 22,217 electoral bonds of varying denominations were purchased by donors between April 1, 2019, and February 15 this year, out of which 22,030 were redeemed by political parties.
