IT Commissioner SK Srivastava’s Battle against Thwarted Probe into Hawala & Tax Evasion Scam by NDTV – Madhu Purnima Kishwar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Auu5mjqX96o&feature=youtu.be&noredirect=1 IT Commissioner SK Srivastava’s Battle against Thwarted Probe into Hawala & Tax Evasion Scam by NDTV
Some weeks ago, my office received a big bundle of papers along with two DVDs by courier. The name and address of the recipient was Ranthambore Rana, D 55 Defence Colony, New Delhi. I do not know any such person but the bunch of papers and the two DVDs contained very disturbing information. (When a Manushi volunteer went to check at the given address, we found someone else living there)They provide in-depth information with detailed documentation regarding an unholy partnership between Finance Minister P Chidambaram and directors of premier TV channel—NDTV. It took me days to go through and make sense of these papers which I also got vetted by a senior lawyer. Even so I was diffident in putting this information in the public domain lest I make an error of judgment. However, on 6 December 2013, former Law Minister and now MP, Shri Ram Jethmalani sent a letter to Mr Chidambram directly accusing him of receiving a bribe of Rs 5000 crores and then getting it laundered by NDTV and harassing Srivastav who attempted to inquire into this economic offence. Chiadambram has not denied or rebutted anything. Rather, he offered to get himself inquired by his own subordinates. Following this exchange of letters between a former Law Minister and the present Finance Minister of the country, I felt compelled to share the information I had received with the public at large.

As per the information in these papers, Chidambaram whose job it is to stand guard over public money and state revenues is allegedly involved in a Rs 5500 crore money laundering scam in collaboration with NDTV and consequent tax-evasion of  3,500/- crores. To facilitate this loot, two IRS officers of 1999 Batch were paid huge amount of bribe and illegal gratification, including an all expenses paid pleasure trip with family to Europe for one officer while the other officer was sent on pleasure jaunt to Mauritius. This is borne out by documentary evidence presented by Srivastav in the High Court.

The two DVDs I received contained a video recorded conversation between S.K. Srivastava, 1987 batch Indian Revenue Service Officer and a small team of lawyers. After having studied the papers and going over the video recorded conversation twice over, I phoned SK Srivastava and asked for an appointment. I met him with a Manushi volunteer at his residence in Pandara Park, in the hope of interviewing him to confirm or refute the authenticity of those documents and the DVDs. He took no time in confirming that the papers were genuine and that he stood by all that was stated in those IRS and court documents. But he said he had no idea how the conversation got to be recorded or why and who sent me the DVDs. When I tried asking him further questions, he refused to answer them saying that as a government official he is not allowed to speak to the media or give interviews for public consumption. However, he did give me the names and phone numbers of his lawyers, including that of S K Gupta, Advocate (Mobile No.-9811211218) who has for years defended him in court against the powerful adversaries like NDTV and Chidambaram.

From his house, I went straight to the Supreme Court chamber of Advocate SK Gupta (chamber No.-57, Old Lawyers Chambers) who also confirmed the authenticity of the documents. He saw the two DVDs on his computer monitor and confirmed that that particular conversation indeed took place in his office. But he said he had no idea how and why it came to be video recorded.

The battle waged by SK Srivastava is no less mind boggling and benumbing than that of ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan against forces out to subvert India. (For details of Nambi Narayanan’s battle, read….RB Shreekumar: Hero of the Secular Brigade – Part I, How India’s Space Program was Sabotaged — Nambi Narayanan Describes the Targeting of ISRO by Shreekumar Masterminded Team of IB Officials Part II, Third Degree Torture by IB Officials of ISRO Scientist and Others – PART III .

I was told by his lawyer that Srivastava is fighting more than 100 cases before civil & criminal courts right up to the Supreme Court of India against NDTV and corrupt IRS Officers who are hand in glove with these tax-evaders and money launderers. As per Srivastava’s lawyer, these cases have been allegedly engineered by NDTV and a host of corrupt IRS officers working allegedly at Mr Chidambaram’s behest to break Srivastava’s resolve to unearth this scam and have the guilty punished.

The papers reveal how when Srivastava could not be coaxed or threatened into submission by NDTV and its agents within the Income Tax department from exposing the huge scam, he was issued four charge sheets and repeatedly put under suspension– totaling to a period of more than 3 years–allegedly due to the personal vested interest of P. Chidambaram on illegal grounds and false charges of sexual harassment of two female IRS officers of 1999 Batch of IRS both of whom are alleged to have received huge bribe and illegal gratification and one of whom had got her spouse (Abhisar Sharma) employed by NDTV while she was its Assessing Officer and also that of its Directors while another was in-charge of foreign tax division (FTD) of the CBDT and personally camped in Mauritius to arrange transfer of money laundered by NDTV through U.K. subsidiary.

Two Delhi based women IRS officers who are allegedly partners in the NDTV scam were set up to make false allegations of sexual harassment against Srivastava. But he put together a pile of evidence to prove to the court and in official enquiries that followed the allegation of sexual harassment that the two women officers of IRS who charged him with sexual harassment were on the pay roll of NDTV. Both these women were proved lairs in court for lodging false complaints. Srivastava also managed to get his suspension orders quashed by the Central Administrative Tribunal since they were patently illegal. By all accounts Srivastava had an outstanding service record and was found to have merely done his duty with due diligence. Therefore, he could get his suspension orders quashed by Court. Since in 2010 Chidambaram was no longer at the helm of affairs in the Finance Ministry, the Govt. not only accepted those Orders but also implemented those them!

Chidambaram has also tried transferring Srivastava far away from Delhi but Srivastava was successful in getting his Mangalore transfer quashed by CAT because it was found to be motivated.

It is noteworthy that the previous finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee who is now the President of India had allowed the investigations initiated by Srivastava to go on! But after Chidambaram became Finance Minister, he is alleged to have taken active interest in keeping Srivastava from investigating the illegal acts of NDTV and its directors, just as in his capacity as the Home Minister he did not allow CBI to cooperate in the 2G scam investigations regarding money laundering by NDTV as requested by Srivastava before the court of CBI Special Judge Saini.

Srivastava in his submission in the 2 G scam case had alleged that NDTV has laundered a huge chunk of this money for compromised politicians. Chidambaram as Home Minister got two FIRs registered against Srivastava for reporting about the corruption of those two female IRS officers of 1999 Batch. The ostensible charge was that Srivastava had outraged their modesty and committed offences U/s 509 of IPC, 1860.

As part of their resolve to browbeat Srivastava, vested interests in collusion with NDTV obtained a mischievous medical report from a private hospital, VIMHANS, Delhi that Srivastava is suffering from a mental disorder and therefore whatever he says doesn’t merit being taken seriously by the court. Srivastava describes in the video recording how he defeated that conspiracy by getting himself examined by doctors in 5 reputed Government hospitals like AIIMS, Hindu Rao and Safdarjang. This medical report was later withdrawn by VIMHANS at the mere hint of an inquiry by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

Advocate S.K. Gupta says he has been again and again offered inducements and enticements by NDTV and a host of corrupt IRS officers to stop him from defending and protecting Srivastava. But he says he has withstood all those pressures because he believes in the rightness of Srivastava’s cause.

The full text of the SK Srivastava’s discussion with his lawyers is available at…  This is not a sting operation, nor am I exposing anything “secret”. SK Srivastava’s battle has been going on in the courts for several years now. The documents that I received are part of court records and hence in the public domain.

We are posting the unedited version of the DVDs sent to me (barring a small section which has unsubstantiated charges, unlike the rest of the conversation) because the case has been successfully hushed up by the media for obvious reasons. A brief summary of the case is given below:

Srivastava’s Allegation against P. Chidambram

That P. Chidambaram received several thousand crores by way of bribes which NDTV laundered through dummy companies. Using his power positions, Mr Chidambaram has scuttled all attempts at inquiry.
P. Chidambaram’s counter case: S.K Srivastava is in-disciplined and should be removed from government service. CBDT under P. Chidambaram told the Delhi High Court that Srivastava’s “performance … has not been satisfactory” and “the department … are not satisfied with the manner of his work”

A Partial List of NDTV’S Alleged Illegal Acts

• No 1: SCAM OF 5,500 CRORES PLUS :
• NDTV allegedly laundered 5500crores by raising funds through “private placements”, from undisclosed investors in NDTV subsidiaries based in UK and Holland.
• The sums raised by it through dubious investors not only paid off its  3,500 crores liability but left an amount in excess of  2000 crores to be transferred to another account.
• These funds were transferred to a Mauritius based NDTV subsidiary.
• These funds were then routed to several other NDTV subsidiaries in India.
• These Indian subsidiaries were later merged with NDTV Ltd., India without giving a fair share holding right to the companies of Mauritius or UK or Holland.
• Shockingly, both, the UK and Holland based NDTV subsidiaries, were closed down and so was the Mauritius company!
• Why would investors in UK and Holland allow such actions if this were not a plain money laundering scheme?
• At present dollar values, with penalties and interest, the scam exceeds  5,500 crores.
• Shockingly none of the UK and Holland based subsidiaries of NDTV appeared in the annual reports filed that year by NDTV India and subsequently no critical details were provided to the relevant Ministry when special intimation was filed before it for condoning the lapse. None was asked for either!
• It is alleged by Srivastava that this money itself is “illegal”; it is not a case of undeclared business profits or money on which income tax has not been paid. It is money transferred out of the country, received as bribes by ministers, politicians or public servants or just one unknown politician through the same hawala route that terrorists use!

No 2: SCAM OF 300 CRORES

• NDTV allegedly showed false exports to Star TV in Hongkong under section 80 HHF of the Income Tax Act. This act defrauded the government of revenue worth at least  300 crores at present value.
• NDTV claimed illegal income tax deductions without making any actual exports and by bringing in Indian rupees instead of foreign exchange as stipulated in supporting judgements!
• This deduction was allowed by a Income Tax officer Sumana Sen (IRS 99005) whose husband Abhisar Sharma has been an employee of NDTV, a fact that she had concealed all through her employment.
• Going against service conduct rules, Sumana Sen accepted a gift of a luxurious all expenses paid European holiday from NDTV whereby NDTV allegedly also paid her shopping bills. All this totals to an expense of  1 Crore. She filed false reports that her involvement with NDTV was in her official capacity. She claimed eligibility for accepting this Rs 1croreholiday as one of the perks allowed to her husband as an employee of NDTV. Records show that NDTV has incurred no such expense on any of its employees, including Abhisar Sharma. Srivastava’s allegation that it was a bribe to Sumana Sen for giving undue tax rebates to NDTV has been backed by solid documentary evidence.
• Sumana Sen failed to inform the Income Tax Department that her husband was an NDTV employee while she was handling their tax matters. This is an obvious case of conflict of interest. In fact, she manipulated her transfer to the Circle under whose jurisdiction NDTV and its directors—including Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy, Barkha Dutt, Vikram Chandra etc. come for the purpose of income tax assessment.
• In order to pre-empt SK Srivastava from proceeding with these inquiries, Sumana Sen and her collaborationist…….filed false charges of sexual harassment against SK Srivastava. Srivastava alleges that P. Chidambaram had set up these women and used their false cases to suspend him and harass him through various unholy means.
• Ashima Neb undertook tourism of Mauritius with her companion for about 10 days and incurred huge expenditure o shopping and hotel stay, etc., while claiming to spend a princely sum of  60,000/- only on everything from air travel to hotel stay to local travelling to shopping to food for she and her companion accompanying her, et-all!
• All these cases against Srivastava were quashed yet P. Chidambaram continues to harass him and has set-up another illegal inquiry that has been stayed by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). Even though P. Chidambaram has been named by Srivastava in the inquiry, Chidambaram has not had the courage to file a reply. (Here is the link to the departmental inquiry report vindicating Sanjay Srivasatav on Sexual harassment charges : NDTV money laundering – Annexure 9)

NO. 3 – SCAM OF RS. 1.46 CRORES

In the same Assessment Year, Sumana Sen, allowed tax refund of  1.46 crores to NDTV instead of implicating it in the above scams! She handed the cheque to NDTV through her husband Abhisar Sharma, then an NDTV employee (a direct conflict of interest, not statutorily disclosed by her, therefore illegal) in gross violation of the rules of refunding dues! The refund was not admissible and she passed illegal orders to illegally pay money to NDTV from Government accounts!

Due to relentless battle waged by Srivastava and because of some still remaining honest IRS officers like the incumbent CIT, Delhi V and his subordinates, the I.T. Deptt. in Delhi could no longer ignore the fraud and loot of the public exchequer and public money. It has now succeeded in levying income tax on Rs 900 crores of laundered money in on assessment year alone, i.e. 2009-10. Another Rs 2003 crores of laundered money and bribe paid to public servants is under consideration for similar action.

The fraudulent acts and conduct of NDTV is made out from their abject inability to cross-examine Srivastava who recorded his statement on oath and offered to be cross- examined by NDTV. Nor could it rebut documentary evidence submitted by Srivastava to I.T. Deptt.

But, all because of Chidambaram, the Dispute Resolution Panel (the DRP II, Delhi) of the Income Tax Deptt. still managed to save NDTV and Chidambaram as it did not ask for the list of investors who contributed the Pound Sterling 300 millionsto NDTV and its subsidiary in U.K. and then forgot to recover their money as that would have, revealed the link of Chidambaram with NDTV as alleged by Srivastava. The DRP has not exercised its powers to order search of NDTV to recover that list and the Member (Inv.), CBDT who is known to be a blue eyed boy of Chidambaram and was deputed by him to harass the Chief Minister of his home state has simply turned a blind eye to this case to cover up the link between NDTV and Chidambaram.

There is a lot more to this case than the above mentioned scams.

Since Srivastava’s battle is unlikely to get a proper hearing in mainstream media, I am posting his account in Hindi on You Tube.

Was all this material sent to me because I am seen as someone similarly battling mainstream media’s partisan conduct and conspiratorial silence on many issues?

I am in no position to judge these issues but feel strongly that this case deserves to be known widely at least through the social media so that the Government can be pressured into starting a fair probe into these allegations.

For viewing SK Srivastava’s account to his lawyers, click here for video
(Links to Ram Jethmalani letters: Ram Jethmalani’s letter to P. Chidambaram in NDTV money laundering matter, P. Chidambaram?s reply to Ram Jethmalani and Ram Jethmalani’s reply to P. Chidambaram in NDTV money laundering matter)

Manushi