Corruption In India

Around 66 per cent of business firms surveyed across 159 districts admitted that they paid bribes in the last 12 months, a report by online platform LocalCricles said on Sunday. The survey, which received 18,000 responses, found that 54 per cent were forced to pay bribes while 46 per cent paid voluntarily to expedite the process. "As many businesses would vouch anonymously, bribes remain a way of life when wanting to get government departments to speed up the permit or compliance process, even getting duplicate copy of the authority license or anything to do with property matters. 66 per cent of businesses surveyed paid a bribe in the last 12 months," the report said. Only 16 per cent of businesses surveyed claimed that they always managed to get work done without paying a bribe and 19 per cent said they "did not have a need" to do so. "Of businesses that paid bribes in the last 12 months, 54 per cent were forced to do so, while 46 per cent paid it for timely processing. This kind

The Supreme Court on Friday sought the CBI's response on a plea filed by alleged middleman Christian Michel James seeking bail in the purported Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland scam case. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale issued notice to the CBI and directed it to file its reply within four weeks. "Issue notice, returnable four weeks," the bench said. The alleged scam pertains to the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from chopper design and manufacturing company AgustaWestland. James moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court's September 25 order refusing him bail in the case. James, a British national, was extradited from Dubai in December, 2018, and was subsequently arrested. The high court previously dismissed his bail application, observing there was no significant change in circumstances from the time when his earlier bail pleas were rejected. He is among the three alleged middlemen probed in the case with the other two being Guido Haschke and Carlo ...

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the Enforcement Directorate's response on a plea of AAP leader Manish Sisodia challenging a trial court's order taking cognisance of a chargesheet filed in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri issued the notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and fixed Sisodia's plea on December 20, when AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal's similar petition is also listed for further proceedings. The former deputy chief minister sought the high court's direction to set aside the trial court's order on the ground that the special judge took cognisance of the chargesheet in the absence of any sanction for the prosecution of the former Delhi chief minister, who was a public servant when the offence was allegedly committed. Sisodia is out on bail in the case. According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours were extended to the licence holders. The De

The Supreme Court on Thursday extended the interim bail of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel's deputy secretary Saumya Chaurasia, an accused in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal-levy scam. The apex court had on September 25 granted her interim bail, noting that she had already undergone custody of more than one year and nine months and charges were yet to be framed. The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan. The bench sought to know about the current status of the case. Senior advocate Siddhartha Dave, appearing for Chaurasia, said the trial has not yet commenced. "Interim bail to continue," the bench said and posted the matter for hearing in the last week of January. The top court was hearing Chaurasia's plea challenging an August 28 order of the Chhattisgarh High Court which had denied her bail. In its September 25 order, the apex court had directed the state government not to reinstate her in service

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted fresh searches against Chennai-based 'lottery king' Santiago Martin, the single biggest donor to political parties with over Rs 1,300 crore in electoral bonds, as part of a money laundering investigation, official sources said. The action comes after the Madras High Court recently allowed the ED to proceed against Martin as the Tamil Nadu Police had decided to close the predicate or primary FIR against him and a few others and a lower court accepted this police plea. Sources said multiple premises linked to Martin were being searched on Thursday in Chennai and some other places. The federal agency last year attached assets worth about Rs 457 crore in a case against Martin linked to an alleged loss of over Rs 900 crore to the Sikkim government by fraudulent sale of the state lottery in Kerala. Future Gaming Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. is the master distributor of Sikkim lotteries and the ED has been investigating Martin, known as the .

Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Saturday alleged a scam in the housing for the poor and said the DDA housing units meant for slum dwellers in the city are sold illegally to ineligible individuals. No immediate response was available from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the BJP on the allegations. Bharadwaj alleged in a press conference that these DDA flats are being sold to ineligible individuals, undermining the very purpose of the initiative aimed at aiding the poor. The slum dwellers, who have been displaced by the Central's government actions, were promised housing that is now falling prey to corruption and this cannot happen without the lieutenant governor's consent, he alleged. "These flats cannot be sacrificed to corruption without the consent of the Central government's DDA. Such a big scam and corruption were happening right under the nose of the BJP LG and it is not possible that Lieutenant Governor Vinay Saxena was not aware of it," he said. Bharadwaj also

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has flagged 34 major cases of non-compliance by government departments, which diluted its advice of acting against "corrupt" officials. In some cases, these "corrupt" officials were either exonerated or punishment against them were diluted by the departments concerned, according to the CVC's annual report 2023. Of the total, a highest of seven cases involved are under the coal ministry, five in the State Bank of India (SBI), four in the IDBI Bank, three under the steel ministry and two each under the power ministry and NBCC (India) Limited, it said. One such instance each was in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), the Ministry of Railways, Airports Authority of India (AAI), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) among others, according to the report. One each case of deviation from the CVC's advice was also from the ...

A Delhi court on Tuesday dismissed AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal's two petitions challenging the summons issued to him on complaints filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam. Special Judge Rakesh Syal dismissed the revision petition filed by Kejriwal, saying there was sufficient ground to proceed against him. Kejriwal had moved the sessions court against an order passed by a magisterial court directing him to appear before it on the ED's complaint. The outgoing Delhi chief minister had challenged the summons issued by the magisterial court after taking cognisance of two complaints filed by the ED over avoidance of summons issued to him. The ED had filed complaints before the magisterial court seeking prosecution of Kejriwal for skipping multiple summonses issued to him in the case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver on Friday its verdict on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's petitions seeking bail and challenging his arrest by the CBI in the excise policy "scam". As per the cause list of September 13 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench headed by Justice Surya Kant is slated to pronounce the verdict.

The Congress on Wednesday reiterated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani issue, saying it is needed urgently to unearth the full extent of the corruption, monopolisation and glaring gaps in the country's regulatory system. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh cited a media report and said the latest in the "Modani magic" is the rags-to-riches journey of a private power infrastructure firm. "Diamond Power Infra Ltd was dragged to bankruptcy court in 2018. By 2022, it was taken over by Mr Gautam Adani's brother-in-law, at the price of paying Rs 501 crore to the lenders, for a company with a market cap of Rs 1,000 crore," Ramesh said in a post on X. "The firm had zero business in 2022, but by 2023-24, it had revenue of Rs 344 crore -- largely from orders placed by the Adani Group businesses. Thanks to Mr Adani's business, Diamond Power Infra Ltd is now valued at Rs 7,626 crore, a seven-fold increase in valuation," he ...

Special CBI Judge Jyot Kler, on September 4, issued notice to ED and sought reply on the bail application

The Supreme Court on Friday deferred till September 5 hearing on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's pleas seeking bail and challenging the arrest by the CBI in the alleged excise policy scam. A bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan allowed the CBI to file its counter affidavit in the matter and gave two days' time to Kejriwal to file a rejoinder. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, said the CBI filed a counter affidavit in only one of the pleas and it was served upon them at 8 pm on Thursday. ASG SV Raju said they will file the counter in another plea in one week. The bench then posted the matter for further hearing on September 5. On August 14, the top court refused to grant interim bail to Kejriwal in the case and sought a response from the probe agency on his plea challenging his arrest. Kejriwal was arrested by the CBI on June 26. The chief minister, who was arrested by the ED on March 21, was granted bail by the trial court in the money ...

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it will file its response to BRS leader K Kavitha's bail plea in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam by August 22. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation, told a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan that the CBI's counter affidavit has already been filed in the matter. Raju said the ED's counter affidavit was in the "pipeline" and would be filed by August 22. The bench posted the matter for hearing on August 27. The apex court had on August 12 sought responses from the CBI and the ED on Kavitha's pleas challenging a July 1 Delhi High Court order denying her bail in the two cases. The high court had dismissed Kavitha's bail pleas in both the cases, saying she was prima facie one of the main conspirators in the criminal conspiracy related to the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excis

The Enforcement Directorate has initiated the process of restitution of flats worth more than Rs 20 crore to homebuyers of a Gurugram realty project who were allegedly cheated by the builder company, official sources said Wednesday. The case pertains to flats constructed by the SRS Group as part of projects like SRS Pearl, SRS City and SRS Prime. The process to restitute 78 flats of genuine homebuyers in these SRS projects has been initiated following the Appellate Tribunal, instituted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), issuing an order on August 12 allowing the ED to return these flats worth a total Rs 20.15 crore to their rightful claimants. The central agency in January 2020 had provisionally attached assets worth Rs 2,215 crore as part of a money laundering investigation against the SRS Group of companies in a case related to alleged fraud committed against a number of homebuyers and investors. It was alleged by the ED that the SRS group of companies received

Joint Commissioner of Police, ACB, Madhur Verma said that besides the GST officer, three advocates, two transporters, and the owner of a fictitious company were also allegedly involved in the scam

Supreme Court had earlier refused to interfere with the Karnataka High Court interim order staying proceedings against Congress leader Shivakumar

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday launched a scathing attack on the government over exam paper leaks, saying the issue has become a national problem under the BJP rule which has "ruined the future" of crores of youth. The Congress general secretary's attack comes amid outcry against alleged irregularities in the medical entrance examination NEET and also the cancellation of the UGC-NET examination on Wednesday a day after it was held, citing compromised integrity of the test. In a post on X, Priyanka Gandhi said the Congress demands that strict action be taken over the "NEET scam" so that 24 lakh students get justice. In another post in Hindi on X, she wrote, "In the last five years, papers of 43 recruitment exams have been leaked in the country. Paper leak has become a national problem of our country under BJP rule which has ruined the future of crores of youth so far." "India is the youngest country in the world. We have the largest youth population. Instead of maki

AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making a mockery of the justice system after the Delhi High Court put on hold the trial court order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam. Taking to X, Singh said in a post in Hindi, "Look at the hooliganism of the Modi government, the trial court's order has not yet come, even a copy of the order has not been received, so Modi's ED reached the High Court to challenge which order? What is happening in this country? "Modi ji, why are you making a mockery of the justice system? The whole country is watching you?" the AAP MP said. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the ED in the high court, sought a stay on the trial court order contending that the agency was not given a proper opportunity to argue its case. The ED had arrested Kejriwal on March 21, shortly after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection from arr

The Congress on Saturday accused the BJP of accommodating corrupt leaders and taking no action in cases against them once they join the ruling party. The allegations came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned in Maharashtra and ahead of his rally in Goa. It also raised the plight of onion farmers and giving clearance to projects to select corporate groups, asking if the prime minister is working for the people or his "crony businessmen friends". In a post on X, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that the BJP's deluxe brand washing machine has been reserved for Goa. Having orchestrated mass defections twice in the last five years, the BJP's disregard for democratic values has been on full display in the state, he alleged. "How fast is the BJP washing machine spinning in Goa," he asked, questioning why action against two former chief ministers accused of graft "stalled" after they switched over to the ruling party. Before switching over to the BJP, one former chi

Noida was once known as "centre of corruption" but it has now transformed into "centre of business" due to efforts of the double-engine government of the BJP, senior party leader Rajnath Singh said in Gautam Buddh Nagar on Tuesday. Criminals once dominated this region in western Uttar Pradesh, even forcing people to migrate but all that has now become a thing of the past, the defence minister also said as he slammed previous non-BJP governments in the state. Singh was speaking at an election rally at Bisaha village in Greater Noida while canvassing support for BJP's Gautam Buddh Nagar Lok Sabha candidate Mahesh Sharma ahead of the April 26 voting. "You people know very well about Noida. There was a time when Noida was the centre of corruption for the politicians of Uttar Pradesh. It was said for the officers, too, that if there is any biggest centre of corruption, it is Noida," he said. "But today I can say with pride that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ch