 "Scandals: Weighed down by scams")
This March, when Defence Minister A K Antony admitted the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal was laced with corruption, he set the overarching theme for 2013 - scams, scandals and skulduggery.
The size of the deal Antony was referring to was about Rs 3,700 crore. It involved the purchase of 12 high-security VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland. Though the deal was struck in 2010 - after some changes in the contract, allegedly for the benefit of the company - it drew attention only when Giuseppe Orsi, chief executive and chairman of Finmeccanica SpA (the state-controlled Italian defence giant and parent company of AgustaWestland), was arrested in February 2013. Orsi was charged with fraudulent deals, including payment of bribes to air force officials and the Indian bureaucracy to seal the chopper contract.
The government, already weighed down by the Commonwealth Games, 2G spectrum allocation and coal block allocation scams through the previous two years, accepted corruption had taken place and bribes had been paid. A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry was ordered. Last month, India initiated the process to cancel the contract.
But just as clamour against the government was peaking, the focus shifted East. Sudipta Sen, chairman of the Saradha Group and known to the public as a media baron of sorts, went missing after duping thousands of small investors. After enjoying political patronage (in lieu of singing paeans to the ruling party), Sen's fall seemed sudden, though trouble had been brewing in the group's media outfits as early as February. By March, most print publications in the Saradha fold had shut shop, rendering about 1,000 journalists jobless. But when the axe fell on Tara Muzik, it caught people's notice. On April 14, the Bengali new year, anchors of the channel put up a tear-jerking last show; they were joined by people from various walks of life, who recited and sang with them.
The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government ordered Sen's arrest but he had already left Kolkata. He was finally arrested sometime in April, from a hotel in Sonmarg, amid much drama. In the interim and thereafter, at least 17 people, mostly Saradha agents who were being hounded by depositors, committed suicide.
Most of Saradha's 165 companies were used to raise deposits from the public, under the garb of one scheme or the other, taking advantage of legal loopholes, while Sen leveraged his proximity to the ruling party. The going was good, till it all came crumbling.
The government, which had had enough of the coal block allocation controversy last year, was chided by the Supreme Court for interference in the CBI probe report on the coal block allocation scam. In an unprecedented move, the apex court termed the elite CBI a "caged parrot". The observations of the apex court pertained to CBI Director Ranjit Sinha's affidavit that said the report was changed after consultations with the Prime Minister's Office, Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and coal ministry officials. Kumar resigned in May.
The Congress was facing a double whammy. Around the same time, Railway Minister Pawan Bansal was in a spot after his nephew, Vijay Singla, was caught in a cash-for-post case. Singla was offered a bribe by a Western Railways general manager for the post of member, Railway Board. Eventually, Bansal, too, had to go.
Even as new scams continued, at least one came close to a logical conclusion. Ram Samiral Pal, one of the masterminds of the SpeakAsia scam, estimated at about Rs 2,000 crore, was arrested by Delhi Police last month. In 2010, SpeakAsia had raised money from a large number of people on the pretext of running an online survey company.
As scams continued to make headlines, India slipped to its lowest in the latest global competitiveness ranking of the World Economic Forum. That corruption figured among four of the top 16 concerns for doing business in India hardly came as a surprise.
The size of the deal Antony was referring to was about Rs 3,700 crore. It involved the purchase of 12 high-security VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland. Though the deal was struck in 2010 - after some changes in the contract, allegedly for the benefit of the company - it drew attention only when Giuseppe Orsi, chief executive and chairman of Finmeccanica SpA (the state-controlled Italian defence giant and parent company of AgustaWestland), was arrested in February 2013. Orsi was charged with fraudulent deals, including payment of bribes to air force officials and the Indian bureaucracy to seal the chopper contract.
The government, already weighed down by the Commonwealth Games, 2G spectrum allocation and coal block allocation scams through the previous two years, accepted corruption had taken place and bribes had been paid. A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry was ordered. Last month, India initiated the process to cancel the contract.
Also Read
Nonetheless, the Opposition labelled it another "Bofors", an 80s and 90s scandal that became a bother for the Congress leadership, including the Gandhi family.
But just as clamour against the government was peaking, the focus shifted East. Sudipta Sen, chairman of the Saradha Group and known to the public as a media baron of sorts, went missing after duping thousands of small investors. After enjoying political patronage (in lieu of singing paeans to the ruling party), Sen's fall seemed sudden, though trouble had been brewing in the group's media outfits as early as February. By March, most print publications in the Saradha fold had shut shop, rendering about 1,000 journalists jobless. But when the axe fell on Tara Muzik, it caught people's notice. On April 14, the Bengali new year, anchors of the channel put up a tear-jerking last show; they were joined by people from various walks of life, who recited and sang with them.
The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government ordered Sen's arrest but he had already left Kolkata. He was finally arrested sometime in April, from a hotel in Sonmarg, amid much drama. In the interim and thereafter, at least 17 people, mostly Saradha agents who were being hounded by depositors, committed suicide.
Most of Saradha's 165 companies were used to raise deposits from the public, under the garb of one scheme or the other, taking advantage of legal loopholes, while Sen leveraged his proximity to the ruling party. The going was good, till it all came crumbling.
The government, which had had enough of the coal block allocation controversy last year, was chided by the Supreme Court for interference in the CBI probe report on the coal block allocation scam. In an unprecedented move, the apex court termed the elite CBI a "caged parrot". The observations of the apex court pertained to CBI Director Ranjit Sinha's affidavit that said the report was changed after consultations with the Prime Minister's Office, Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and coal ministry officials. Kumar resigned in May.
The Congress was facing a double whammy. Around the same time, Railway Minister Pawan Bansal was in a spot after his nephew, Vijay Singla, was caught in a cash-for-post case. Singla was offered a bribe by a Western Railways general manager for the post of member, Railway Board. Eventually, Bansal, too, had to go.
Even as new scams continued, at least one came close to a logical conclusion. Ram Samiral Pal, one of the masterminds of the SpeakAsia scam, estimated at about Rs 2,000 crore, was arrested by Delhi Police last month. In 2010, SpeakAsia had raised money from a large number of people on the pretext of running an online survey company.
As scams continued to make headlines, India slipped to its lowest in the latest global competitiveness ranking of the World Economic Forum. That corruption figured among four of the top 16 concerns for doing business in India hardly came as a surprise.