Saturday, 9 June 2012

Once Again Hit by Hackers

Dear Readers,

This is to inform you that our blog is once again hit by hackers and we are in process of getting back all the posts.

We will post more about the offenders once we get back all data.

Thanks

Saturday, 31 March 2012

Mild Sentence to Mining Scam Accused. This is India!!!

The bang with which the Karnataka Mining Scam came to centrestage, dethroning B S Yeddyurrapa as CM in its wake, could soon end in a whimper, if the Supreme Court's Centrally Empowered Committee's (CEC) recommendations are accepted.

The Karnataka Lokayukta had in its report noted that the miners in Karnataka earned Rs 12,228 crore between 2006 and 2010 from illegal exports of ore. Thousands of crore worth of ore was also illegally sold domestically during the same period. It had indicted several hundred officials, politicians and businessmen for their involvement in one the largest mining scams to hit the country.

However, the SC-appointed panel's recommendations could help wrong-doers lightly. It suggested that all 166 mines should be regularized, even though 162 of them were found to have operated blatantly flouting norms. A fine of around Rs 430 crore should be imposed on 72 of them. Forty nine leases (mostly small operators) should be cancelled and resold to other miners with their existing mine stocks confiscated, while 24 of mines would get away scot-free. The committee has not recommended prosecution of a single official, politician or businessman involved in the scam that turned three districts in the state - Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur - into a black hole of corruption.

If the SC accepts these recommendations, what was purported to be a massive organized criminal racket could now be legitimized with a relatively minor penalty.

The CBI has been asked by the apex court to investigate only a single illegal mining case in Karnataka and the state police has found it hard to take any action. Hence, the rest could get away without any criminal proceedings. The petitioners before the SC, aggrieved by the CEC report, have filed another plea demanding probe into corruption by Yeddyurrapa along with Jindal and Adani groups. But the CEC is yet to weigh on it even as the firm involved in the corruption case of the former CM has been absolved of its 'minor illegalities'.

The CEC final report notes that "massive illegal mining and transportation because possible because of the blatant connivance of officials and public functionaries." It adds, "the extend and level of rampant unauthorized unregulated, environmentally unsustainable and illegal mining its various facets and consequent massive encroachment in the forests area perhaps had no other parallel in the country."

Yet, the CEC has ignored its earlier observation that "the ill-gotten profits of the wrong doers should be disgorged at 5 times the market value" of the ore illegally extracted over years. It has instead suggested an encroached area-based formula to penalize that would add up to a total fine of a paltry Rs 430 crore. This too has been done in such a way that several big players could get away scot-free because as a percentage their encroachment seems small. Many of the small players are put into a category, and their mines should be resold to others. Consequently, some miners in the same bracket of encroachment get away with paying peanuts, while others lose their leases. There is no reference to the millions of tonnes of iron ore the companies mined over years in flagrant violation of several norms.

The CEC does put a cap on future mining in the area, and a formula to extract an extra amount from the mines that would be continued to operate through a special purpose vehicle which would be used to undertake land rehabilitation and other regulatory measures.

It's not the first time that the CEC has resorted to such a formula. There is a precedent in a mining scam in Odisha in 2010. In that case, the CEC had found that 215 out of 341 working mines - or more than 60% - in Odisha wee operating without statutory central government clearances - some of them in business for decades without even submitting a statutory mining plan to authorities. Yet, the CEC offered an amnesty scheme to all: advising that a one-time fine of about Rs 2,000 crore be collected to legitimize their operations based on a land cost formula. Again, it had not recommended anyone's prosecution, and the court had accepted the suggestions.

REF: TOI.

Friday, 6 January 2012

The Dark Horse of Scams - Rajiv and Megha Pandit

With 2011 passing and all scams done and investigated we have a duo who we can term as our dark horse of scams. They are experienced, ruthless, cunning and liars. The duo Dr. Rajiv Bhaskar Pandit and Megha Wasnik Pandit of MegaCare India, Ahmedabad have emerged as our top contenders to become the Crime Masters of India. Our Duo had comitted frauds with more than 25 people whose list we got from our supporters.

The total amount  comes out to nearly a fraud of Rs. 2.5 crores. The mastermind of the fraud Dr. Rajiv Pandit and Megha Wasnik are still on the run from the people who are made victims of fraud by them and are secretly committing frauds with more people in the Southern Part of India.

After receiving death threats from Dr. Pandit to our team via emails we put in more efforts to find out about him and his fraud wife Megha Wasnik. We got into touch with more people from all parts of India, Ranging from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. With the reports that we got about Dr. Pandit and Megha Wasnik of MegaCare India we have awarded them the most prestigious award of the Dark Horse of Scams in India.

The award is for the most unnoticed scammers from India who made a mark for themselves and have now earned a repute of being the most lethal frauds of 2011.

Thursday, 5 January 2012

Right to Not vote - Clause 49 (O)

There are queries coming up,on how to use the provision and what difference will it make to the election results.The Election Commission,too,will focus on the training of the presiding officers on the use of the particular clause,along with other things,during elections.

The right to reject is well within the reach of voters,provided they exercise it.Clause 49(O) of the Conduct of Election Rules,1961,gives voters the right to exercise their franchise and yet not vote,in case they do not find any of the candidates on the ballot list,suitable.The voter can take this decision at the last moment, said a senior official of the election commission.


It is well within the contours of the law to say no to vote.People can visit the polling booth,complete all the formalities and come out without casting the vote.In that case also a person will get the mark of ink on his finger, said the official,thus signifying that the person has very much used his right to vote'.
However,when asked if the EC has any figures available on the number of people,who decided against voting in the past election,the official said,there is no compilation of any such data. The information on such voters is also confidential.


The EC has roped in NGOs to increase voter awareness in the state.However,the use of provision is not without the stumbling blocks.In several previous elections,we have observed that it is the lesser knowledge of presiding officers about the clause,which makes using it a cumbersome process, said IC Dwivedi,state coordinator,Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR),UP.

Many a times,we get queries on the provision from the educated voters also,and when they are told about the process,they get discouraged,he said.However,when asked about this,the election commission officers said that all the presiding officers,before going to the polling booths,will be given a proper training.
Besides,it's the fear of one's identity being revealed that might be holding the voters back from exercising the right not to vote'.

A person dreads to be singled-out,particularly,in his locality,and might not use it.But,more awareness on it can do away with the inhibitions,feel social activists.
The no-votes do not impact the overall outcome of the election.People wishing to exercise clause 49(O) have to also declare their intention to the presiding officer of the polling station.The reason given by the voters are also monitored.

If there are more than 50% no-votes,the constituency would go for repoll.When told about this,people get slightly discouraged, said Sharma.

WAY TO A NO-VOTE

The law enables a voter to decline casting his vote at the last stage If he decides not to vote after signing the register,he must inform the presiding officer immediately Presiding officer takes back voters slip and records in register that voter has declined to exercise right Voter will have to sign on register to verify his decision.

Source : Times of India 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Anna-effect-UP-voters-explore-the-right-to-reject/articleshow/11370200.cms

Sunday, 1 January 2012

Season's Greetings and Happy New Year

The team of India Fraud Exposed extends its readers Season's Greetings and warm wishes for a Happy New Year.

We wish that god bless our country and give strength to people to quit the route of scams, frauds and cheating to earn wealth. Lets not put effort to acquire materialistic wealth. Our energy should be focused to build the real wealth, the inner soul or the character.

We thank our readers and freelance supporters who have provided us with information and proofs to bring out the real face of the most corrupt, fraud and unreliable cheats in India.

We hope the you will keep putting our motive alive with your contributions and support.

Warm Wishes for a prosperous and Fraud free year 2012.
Team - India Fraud Exposed

Thursday, 8 December 2011

List of Scams in India 1957 - 2011

In the month of October we brought to our readers a series of Scams, frauds and scandals that had been committed in India after freedom in 1947. These scams were ranged from small to large scams that were unearthed in India and the culprits were charged sheeted and brought to the court of justice for committing frauds, economic offenses, Scandals and Scams within the Geographical territory of the Republic of India. The complete month of October was dedicated towards bringing awareness with our readers.

However, those who missed to read all these blogs due to a glitch in our servers, we had to repost all the blogs we had published before the servers were hit by hackers and it was brought down temporarily. this hacking led us to move to blogger from our existing servers and also resulted in loss of some posts that were prime evidences of exposing frauds.

We hereby bring a compilation to refresh you again with a Year wise Comprehensive list of a few Scams that were detected and unearthed in India.


  2011
  •     ISRO Spectrum Allocation Scam - Although the congress led government was fighting rows over the 2G spectrum scam that another spectrum scam unearthed to give the government more headache. ISRO - A department directly under the Prime Minister had allegedly allocated the spectrum illegally to benefit another firm.
  •     Hasan Ali Khan scandal - Hasan Ali not only had allegations of various frauds he is probably the richest fraud and scamsters of India.
  •     Indian Black Money in Swiss Banks -
  •     BL Kashyap EPFO Scam - One of the fastest growing Construction and reality company was then cought in a scandal where it invaded the EPF scheme policies. It fraud is estimated to be nearly Rs.169 Crores.


  2010
  •     2G spectrum scam and Radia Tapes Controversy - The Radia tapes controversy relates to the telephonic conversations between Nira Radia, a political lobbyist and an acquaintance of the (then) Indian telecom minister A. Raja, and with senior journalists, politicians, and corporate houses, taped by the Indian Income Tax Department in 2008-09. The tapes led to accusations of misconduct by many of these people. Nira Radia used to run a public relations firm named Vaishnavi Communications, whose clients include the Tata Teleservices and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.
  •     Adarsh Housing Society scam - A scam that brewed in he heart of Mumbai started as a investigation for alleged illegal construction later revealed that Adarsh Housing Society, a cooperative society in the city of Mumbai in India, was reserved for the war widows and veterans of the Kargil War was found the the flats were allotted to bureaucrats, ministers and not a single flat was issued to the war veterans, the original beneficiaries of the scheme.
  •     Commonwealth Games Scam - What was once thought to be the shining jewel in the crown of Indian sports was then let down to be the biggest scams in India.
  •     2010 housing loan scam in India - The 2010 fake housing loan in India was uncovered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in India. CBI arrested eight top-ranking officials of public sector banks and financial institutions, including the LIC Housing Finance CEO Ramchandran Nair, in connection with the scam.
  •     Belekeri port scam - Another illegal mining and transporting of iron ore scam that was indirectly involved and alleged for accidents on road by heavy overloaded dumpers carrying iron ore to the ports of Belikeri.
  •     Lavasa Scandal - The township that is flouted to be the first ever planned hill city in India landed into trouble over environmental clearance row.
  •     Uttar Pradesh Food Grain Scam - The first FIRs in the case were filed in January 2005, when the state government acknowledged the scam to be worth Rs. 45,000 crore under the Central government sponsored Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). Apart 65 officials named in the FIR, further over 300 persons were suggested to involved in the preliminary reports. Apart from that a district magistrate, six ADMs and a few district food and supplies officials were suspended
  •     Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Controversy - Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd also known as APIIC is part of the Andhra Pradesh Government initiatives with the objective of providing industrial infrastructure through development of industrial areas. The scam involved he anomalies in the land and development projects with EMAAR MGF.
  •     Indian Premier League Cricket Scandals - Multi million dollar scams alleged to be associated with the most successful cricketing tournament in the world. The IPL changed all the rules of cricket by giving the world the most liked format of cricket the 20-20.


  2009
  •     Madhu Koda mining scam - Koda is presently in jail after multiple bail pleas have been rejected. However, only a tiny fraction of the Rs 4000 crores (USD 800 million) graft money allegedly amassed by him has been recovered.


  2008
  •     Cash For Votes Scandal - The cash-for-votes scandal is a scandal in which the United Progressive Alliance, the majority-holding parliamentary-party alliance of India led by Sonia Gandhi, allegedly bribed Indian MPs in order to survive a confidence vote on 22 July 2008.
  •     The Satyam Scam - The Satyam Computer Services scandal was publicly announced on 7 January 2009, when Chairman Ramalinga Raju confessed that Satyam's accounts had been falsified.


  2006
  •     Kerala Ice Cream Parlour Sex Scandal - The Kerala ice cream parlor sex scandal is one of the long running sex scandals in Kerala state, South India where many top political icons are allegedly considered to be involved in this scandal.
  •     Scorpene Deal Scam - The successor of the Naval War Room Leak Scam  in which 500 crores (about USD 100mn) were paid as bribes to parties in India for the purchase of Scorpene Submarines for the Indian Navy.
  •     Navy War Room spy scandal (related to Scorpene Deal Scam) - The scandal reportedly involved documents to be leaked on a USB pen drive from the Directorate of Naval operations in New Delhi and supposedly sent to arms dealers in Europe.


  2005
  •     IPO scam - The stock markets have been jolted with many stock market scams in the past. This post is a collection of all scams and help you to understand the nature and magnitude of such stock market frauds and IPO scams.
  •     Oil-for-food programme scam (Natwar Singh) - The alleged international scam that involved Natwar Singh in the Iraqi Oil for Food Scam.



  2004
  •     Gegong Apang PDS Scam - The scam allegedly involved fraudulent hill transport subsidy bills that were passed while Apang was the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh and the scam took place during his tenure. Gegong Apang was arrested in August 2010 for alleged corruption relating to a Rs. 1000 crore public distribution system scam.


  2003
  •     Taj Corridor Scandal - The Mayawati led government in Uttar Pradesh started construction of a corridor near the heritage building of the majestic Taj mahal, later the project was stalled after the issue of environmental clearance came into light. The allegations also put case of money allotted for the project to get siphoned off into the bank accounts of Mayawati and her relatives.
  •     HUDCO scam - HUDCO sanctioned Rs 14,500 crore as loans to different infrastructure corporations during the NDA regime. It was found in investigation that bribes were paid to get the Loans sanctioned.


  2002
  •     Kargil Coffin Scam - In one of the most shameless scams in India, Kargil Coffin Purchase scandal revolved around irregularities in purchase of coffins for Indian Army after the Kargil war with Pakistan.


  2001
  •     Ketan Parekh securities scam - Ketan Parekh could be termed as another Harshad Mehta where he siphoned off crores of Rupees from banks to target small stock exchanges to commit frauds in Stocks and Securities.
  •     Barak Missile Scandal - The Barak Missile Scandal is a case of alleged defense corruption relating to the purchase of Barak Missile Systems by India from Israel. The case is currently under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and several people including the Samata Party ex-treasurer R.K. Jain have been arrested. Others named in the First Information Report include politicians George Fernandes and Jaya Jaitley, and arms dealer and ex-naval officer Suresh Nanda, who is the son of retired chief of naval staff S.M. Nanda.


  1997
  •     Cobbler scam - In what was meant to benefit the poor cobblers as a scheme mooted by the government of India. The scheme came as a boomeranged and hit the cobblers in Mumbai, when they were sent recovery notice for grants they were never given. 
  •     Sukh Ram telecom scam - Former telecom minister Sukhram in PV Narasimha Rao's cabinet has been convicted for awarding a lucrative contract to a private telecom firm for supplying cables to the government at inflated rates after receiving a bribe of Rs 3 lakh 15 years back.
  •     Hawala Scandal - The biggest ever scandal in the world which involved over 115 top politicians and bureaucrats of the country. Never before so many top politicians been caught in a single scandal. Hawala Scam was bigger than even Watergate, Iran-gate, Bofors, Harshad Mehta, Tehelka and Lockheed scams.


  1996
  •     Bihar fodder scam - The Fodder Scam (Devanagari: चारा घोटाला, chārā ghoṭālā) was a corruption scandal that involved the embezzlement of about Rs. 950 crore (US$192.66 million) from the government treasury of the eastern Indian state of Bihar. Among those implicated in the theft and arrested were then Chief Minister of Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav, as well as former Chief Minister, Jagannath Mishra. The scandal led to the end of Laloo's reign as Chief Minister, accused for the fraud of Bihar Fodder Scam.


  1995
  •     Purulia arms drop case -The Purulia arms drop case was an infamous incident in which took place on 17 December 1995. The scandal revolved around an unauthorized arms drop from an Antonov An-26 aircraft in Purulia district in the state of West Bengal in India.
  •     SNC Lavalin scandal - The SNC Lavalin scandal is financial scam related to the contracting of the government with a Canadian company, SNC-Lavalin for the renovations of the hydro electric power stations by the Kerela State Electricity board which resulted in the alleged exchequer loss of Rs. 375 crores.
  •     Telgi scam - The one of the most nefariously crafted Stamp Paper Scam popularly known as Telgi Scam penetrated 12 states and is estimated at a whopping Rs 20,000 crore plus.


  1992
  •     Harshad Mehta securities scam - Was the prime accused who engineered the rise of the BSE in 1992 by exploiting several loopholes in the country's banking system. He along with is associates siphoned large amounts of money and bought shares to create a false boom in the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1992.
  •     Palmolein Oil Import Scam, Kerala - The case revolved around the scam in import of palmolein oil from Malaysia by the government of Kerala, India.


  1989
  •     Bofors Scandal - The scam related to the purchase of Artillery Guns Bofors purchase during the regime of Late Rajiv Gandhi. The ghost of this scam still haunts the Congress Party and had also been a cause of defeat in many elections.


  1982
  •     Cement Scam involving A R Antulay - This case reminds me of our school days when we used to promise stuff to friends in lieu of something else. Similarly, Mr. A R Antulay took favours in lieu of promising Cement to Builders.


  1971
  •     Nagarwala Scandal - A scandal one of its kind, where Nagrawala mimicked the voice of the then Prime Minister of India to cash out 60 Lakhs from State Bank of India.


  1957
  •    Haridas Mundhra scandal - The first ever documented scam was recorded in 1957, the scam exposed the nexus of government and Finance Departments. The scam led to the resignation of Finance Minister T. T. Krishnamachari.

Sunday, 20 November 2011

How Hawala Works ?

"Hawalas" is an ancient, unregulated, and little-known systems of exchanging money. A hawala (derived from the Arabic word for "a bill of exchange or promissory note") is a system of brokers that provides paperless banking transactions and enables individuals to transfer large sums of cash from one country to another without the funds ever crossing borders or being recorded. The hawala system predates conventional banking by thousands of years and is prevalent in India, Pakistan, the Middle East, and parts of Asia.

Here we explain to make you understand How a hawala system might work: In Afghanistan, or any other South Asian nation, a man finds a hawala dar (a broker who has inherited the job from his family through several generations) and gives him a certain amount of money to be transferred to a relative, friend, or cohort in America. The broker then contacts by phone, fax, or e-mail a fellow dar who is set up — usually in association with a legitimate business — in an American city. He then asks that broker to pass on an equivalent sum of money to the intended recipient. Thousands of dollars can be moved in a matter of minutes, with no questions asked and no record of any kind. The two brokers even their balance over time, usually through a reverse transaction (when someone in the United States wants to send money to a counterpart in the same city in Afghanistan, for example). However, because the system is based on a long-standing trust among hawala dars, there is no need to balance accounts at the end of each day, or even at the end of each month, as with conventional banking. This makes transactions even more difficult to track.

While much of the money that flows through the hawala system in the United States is used for legitimate purposes — a son sending money home to his parents, for example — hawalas also allow terrorists and drug dealers to smuggle money into the country, undetected by the global banking system. The State Department has long been aware of the challenges posed by hawalas and reported them in its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report.

Congress, too, has recognized the danger of hawalas and moved to regulate their activities in 1994, when it passed a law requiring check-cashing businesses and informal financial enterprises like hawalas to register with the government and report transactions greater than $3,000. Unfortunately, the regulations implementing this statute remain unpublished, while hawalas continue to operate in the United States without supervision. Now Congress is moving toward further regulation and oversight of hawalas, including passage of my legislation requiring hawalas to register with the U.S. government.

The recently proposed bills on record-keeping and account-monitoring, for example, would expedite the publication and enforcement of hawala regulations and give U.S. law enforcement and intelligence authorities the tools they need to intercept terrorist financing before it is too late. Targeting the financial network of terror groups like al-Qaida will not, by itself, strike a deathblow to international terrorism. But it will disrupt the criminal financial network supporting terrorism, and it will give U.S. law enforcement and intelligence communities a better chance of detecting and preventing terrorist activities.

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Rajiv Pandit reads India Fraud Exposed

Rajiv Pandit the prime accused of Torno Herbal Coil scam had recently read articles about his wrong doings. We have also received an email from him using the email id rajpro2000@gmail.com surprising to see a Country Head and a learned man using a private email address to convey his message.

Below we share a snap-shot of the received email from Dr. Rajiv Pandit, threatening our team of dire consequences if we bring out his misdeeds to the masses. 



We believe that this email is work of a spoof and our team is researching the authenticity of the email said to be received from Dr. Rajiv Pandit himself. We will post more on the development on the Rajiv Pandit Mega Care Fraud after we receive a satisfactory reply from Dr. Pandit and Megha Pandit Wasnik to prove they are not guilty.

We see this email as a positive node towards spreading of awareness of fraud companies now if Dr. Rajiv Bhaskar Pandit and his wife Dr. Megha Wasnik Pandit are genuine they will surely come up with proofs to their innocence and rest an affirmative case for their genuinity.

We request all our readers and the masses to also contact our team and email their grievances like the Torno Herbal Mosquito Coils Scam victims have done it, we always aim to get the voices of the victim to reach everyone and spread awareness. 

Sunday, 6 November 2011

Recent development Purulia Arms Dropping Case

On 8 October 2008 the extradition of the key accused, Kim Davy, real name Niels Holck, was close to being finalized as the government had, in principle, agreed on giving "sovereign assurance" to the Danish authorities on their conditions, as well as bringing about some changes in the existing extradition law. One of the conditions Denmark had set included the waiving of the death penalty if Davy is convicted by a court for his involvement in the dropping of a huge cache of arms and ammunition from an aircraft in West Bengal in 1995.

On 28 April 2011 Kim Davy came forward and alleged that both the Indian government (congress party) as well as its intelligence agency R&AW were aware of the precise details of the arms drop well in advance, and that the whole operation was conducted with the implicit agreement of the Indian authorities. Both Peter Bleach and Kim Davy claimed that the aim of the arms drop was to help anti Left government dissidents and to create a pretext to impose President's Rule in West Bengal.

On 29 April 2011 Central Bureau of Investigation denied all allegations of involvement or collusion in the arms drop. Questions have been raised if Kim Davy's 'sensational revelation' was aimed to stall the extradition efforts of India. Some political analysts have also questioned the 'timing of the revelation' which may help the Left parties in the ongoing state government assembly elections.

On 30 June 2011 Central Bureau of Investigation has been denied to extradict Kim Davy a.k.a Neils Holck to India for further proceedings in India. The Danish High Court dismissed the plea on the grounds of "torture or other inhuman treatment".

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

How Gegong Apang looted Arunachal Pradesh: Investigation report


This dates back in October 2004 when Bamang Anthony, president of Arunachal Citizens' Rights (ACR) decided to file a PIL in the Gauhati High Court regarding certain anomalies that he had smelt in the public distribution system (PDS) in Arunachal Pradesh, little did he realise that he was actually digging one of the biggest food scams in the entire subcontinent.

Six years later, he is glad his efforts have paid dividends. Former chief minister Gegong Apang has been arrested in connection with that scam, which is now believed to be of the magnitude of about Rs 1,000 crore.
Arunachal Pradesh and five other hill states of the Northeast get two types of reimbursements from the government of India for transportation of food grains under the PDS. While the first is reimbursement of Road Transport Charges (RTC) for lifting of food grains from the nearest rail head of Food Corporation of India (FCI) depots to the base depots, the second is called Hill Transport Subsidy (HTS) for moving the stock from the base depots to the approved principal distribution centers.

Interestingly, even as Bamang Anthony and The Indian Express were only looking at suspected large-scale irregularities in the distribution of food grains in the state, the FCI itself found out, through a special audit, an "excess payment" of Rs 193.53 crore in just one year (2003-04).

The HTS alone for three particular years in which misappropriation was suspected was as follows: Rs 24.27 crore in 2001-02, Rs 75.03 crore in 2002-03, and Rs 279.64 crore in 2003-04.

The Great Indian PDS Scam

But what was more interesting is that while on one hand the quantity of food grains "supplied" to the people of Arunachal Pradesh under PDS increased (from 54,765 MT in 2001-02 to 85,272 MT) and the reimbursement of HTS also increased, several instances also came to light where the supply records were grossly fraud and fictitious.

One such instance, which The Indian Express highlighted as an illustration of the scam, was the supply of salt under PDS in Damin, a revenue circle in Kurung Kumey district. While the circle had a population of 2,784 (according to 2001 census), records showed that every individual consumed at least 24 kg of iodised salt per month in 2004. Another instance: In Koloriang circle in the same district, roughly 4,800 persons were shown as having consumed 3,080 quintals of rice every month in 2004, which comes to 64 kg per person per month.
It is, however, not Gegong Apang alone who is suspected to be responsible for the multi-crore scam. Transporters, suppliers, government officials, political leaders including MLAs - a large number of people actually benefited from it.

In July 2004 for instance, 5,000 quintals of rice kept in some private godowns in Nagaon (in Assam) for onward dispatch to Arunachal Pradesh disappeared. Submission of false bills for carrying foodgrains by smaller vehicles (where trucks can't ply) and by headloads (to villages which have no road links) was another means of siphoning off huge sums. In some instances, registration numbers of mini-trucks shown in bills were later found out to be of scooters and motorbikes.


The Great Indian PDS Scam

What was most interesting is the story of a government officer, N N Osik, then director of civil supplies, who opened a separate account in the SBI at Itanagar just to receive "commissions" from the contractors engaged for transportation.

Between October 4, 2002 and July 16, 2003, Osik's balance in this account rose to Rs 2.85 crore. On one single day, February 14, 2003, numerous people deposited a total sum of Rs 97 lakh. What Osik immediately did was change his name, by an affidavit, to N Lego.

His name figures along with Apang's in a list of 40 accused persons, which the Special Investigation Cell probing the scam submitted to the the Gauhati High Court in October 2008.

Source: Indian Express

Tuesday, 1 November 2011

Gegong Apang PDS Scam Arunachal Pradesh

The former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Gegong Apang, prime accused in the Rs 1,000-crore public distribution system (PDS) scandal that came to light in 2004, he was arrested and sent for remand in the police custody today.

The Great Indian PDS Scam

Gegong Apang, aged 61, was arrested in Itanagar by the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) constituted by the Gauhati High Court, and charged under IPC Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 409 (criminal breach of trust), read with sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

"We have registered eight cases in connection with the scam. So far 50 persons have been chargesheeted, of which 30 have been arrested. Today we arrested former chief minister Gegong Apang on the basis of material evidences and oral depositions made by a number of witnesses including several of the co-accused," M S Chauhan, SP, SIC, told The Indian Express over the phone from Itanagar.

Chauhan said Apang was the kingpin of the scam. "You cannot expect clerks and transportation contractors to misappropriate a huge sum like Rs 1,000 crore without the involvement of big and influential people," he said.

The Great Indian PDS Scam

The cases pertain to huge anomalies including forgery and fraud that took place in the PDS in Arunachal between 1995 and 2004.The case was brought to national attention by a four-part investigation published in The Indian Express in May 2005.

The forgery and fraud took place at two levels: (i) payment of huge sums as reimbursement of Hill Transport Subsidy and Road Transport Charges from the Government of India for transporting PDS items to the state, and (ii) showing delivery of PDS items without actually reaching them to the people.

The Great Indian PDS Scam

Read more on How Gegong Apang Looted Arunachal Pradesh

Source: Indian Express

Monday, 31 October 2011

Scorpene Deal Scam

The Scorpene Submarine Deal Scam is one of India's largest bribery corruption scandals, in which Rs. 500 crore (about USD 10 mn) were allegedly paid to government decision makers by Thales, the makers of the Scorpene submarine. The amount was channeled via middlemen such as Abhishek Verma. Also involved was Ravi Shankaran, a relative of the then chief of navy staff Arun Prakash. He is the prime accused in the Navy War Room spy scandal.

In October 2005, defence minister Pranab Mukherjee approved the Rs 19,000 crore submarine deal with French company Thales. Scorpene submarines are now being built in India under a technology transfer agreement that was part of that contract. The Scorpene Submarine Scandal was yet another scam involved in a multi billion dollar military hardware purchase.

HUDCO Scam, The CIC Report

The HUDCO Scam siphoned crores of rupees as loan. Investigations revealed that there was bribes paid to officials to get these loans meant for upliftment of the poor. The Right to Information Act helped to unveil the mystery behind the Central Vigilance Commission proposing and the CBI disposing in the Rs1,300-crore HUDCO scam. Showing signs of a nexus within the affluents within the government body.

The Central Information Commission directed the CBI to provide the inquiry report on closing investigation in fourcases where the CVC found "adequate evidence of paying bribes" to mobilise funds from Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) in 2006. The Central Bureau of Investigation had closed the case saying there was not enough evidence to proceed with the probe. This resulted in the housing and urban development ministry submitting a closure report in Supreme Court in 2007. The corporation had invested Rs. 950 crore in West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance, Rs. 200 crore in Himachal Pradesh Infrastructure Development Board and Rs. 150 crore in Vidharbha Irrigation Development Corporation.

There were allegations that money was paid to get these funds from HUDCO. “It appears that CVC found clear evidence showing bribes were taken. However, the CBI and the (Housing and Urban Development) ministry have come to the conclusion there is no wrong doing. If corruption is to be curtailed.... citizens need to get information of this nature," Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said.

The CBI's information officer Pradeep Kumar had refused to provide information to RTI applicant AN Gupta on the ground that the probe report was confidential. The investigations were closed in 2007 and that SC was informed about it. Gandhi said the information officer had wrongly applied the exemption clauses and said "mere fears without any justification" could not be grounds for denying the citizen's fundamental right. The commission also said the Kumar had failed to justify the reasons for denying information as stipulated under the RTI Act.

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Cobbler Scam - $600 million shoes scam India

India being a large country and blessed with varied natural and cultural diversity is also blessed with a lesser desired blessing, called Scams. A lot of scams are discovered in India every now and then, as if its a day to day routine and like the corruptions in India can never come to an end. If one corruption is exposed another one start somewhere. This also reminds me one of the biggest multi million dollars scam in Indian History which was nicknamed The Great Cobbler Scam.



What really happened in this Great Cobbler Scam was that various businessman & politicians had siphoned around $600 million US dollars from a scheme that was floated by the Government of India meant to benefit the poor cobblers of Mumbai. Instead, it went into the pockets of wealthy elite and bureaucrats who used this money to built luxury homes for themselves and also brought luxury cars, boats, arts...etc. Pretty common use of Tax Payers money.

The money of the scheme to benefit the poor cobblers in Mumbai, was meant to provide low interest loans and tax concessions to the Mumbai's poorest - cobblers who work 16-hours a day for less than $2. Not a single penny of the scheme from the government of India reached these poor cobblers of Mumbai, Maharashtra.

The modus operandi of the masterminds of the cobbler scam was to float a cooperative society of cobblers to avail the soft government loans through various schemes. Several bogus societies of cobblers were formed only for the purpose of availing these soft government loans for the poor cobblers.

The people involved in this racket were Saddrudin Daya, former sheriff of Mumbai and owner of Dawood Shoes, Rafique Tejani, owner of Metro Shoes, Kishore Signapurkar, proprietor of Milano Shoes, and Abu Asim Azmi, president of Samajwadi Party's Mumbai unit and partner in Citywalk Shoes. Beside them various officials of banks and financial institutions were also involved in this multi million dollars Cobbler Scam.

The Banks whose officials were involved in this scam are : Maharashtra State Finance Corporation, Citibank, Bank of Oman, Dena Bank, Development Credit Bank, Saraswat Co-operative Bank, and Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait. All were booked for economic fraud.

This scam costed the Government of India around $600 million US dollars. The cobbler scam was one of the worst scam in India that cheated the poorest people of the society and benefited a lot of rich and elite. Such Scams are one of the cause that proverty in India is difficult to eliminate.

Hawala Money Laundering Scam

The Hawala Money Laundering Scam hovered around the fact that the Hawala channels through which terrorist outfits in Kashmir like Hijbul-Mujahideen used to get funds, the same channels used to grease the palms of over 115 top bureaucrats and politicians of the country. CBI, RAW and every other investigative agencies of the country suppressed the entire Hawala case. 


Indian government accuses Pakistan for encouraging dreaded militant outfit Hijbul-Mujahideen to spread terrorism in India, but why does it not want to investigate the Jain Hawala case, which is directly connected with the funding of the Hijbul-Mujahideen ? It is the same organization which has been behind maximum terrorist attacks and has also caused the Kargil war that took the toll of hundreds of our young officers and soldiers.
The Video is a compilation of a Crusade of one Man Vineet Narain, who exposed the hawala case.

Click the link to know more about Hawala.

Saturday, 29 October 2011

Barak Missile Purchase Scam Defense

The Barak missile system was jointly developed by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and RAFAEL Armament Development Authority of Israel.


On 23 October 2000, contracts had been signed by the Indian government to procure seven Barak systems at a total cost $199.50 million and 200 missiles at a cost of $69.13 million. This was done despite objections raised by several groups, including members of the team that had originally visited Israel to observe the missile performance, and APJ Abdul Kalam, then heading the Defence Research Development Organization. Though some of the objections were of a procedural nature, the Navy Chief of Staff Sushil Kumar is currently under investigation as to why these objections were not considered.

In 2001 a sting operation conducted by Tehelka alleged that 15 defence deals made by the government had involved some sort of kickback and the Barak missile deal was one of them. Transcripts of conversations between the undercover Tehelka operative and R. K. Jain indicate that Jain accepted bribes from Suresh Nanda in the amount of one crore.

The NDA government set up a commission to investigate the matter. The UPA government, rejected the partial report by the commission and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) began investigating the case.



The Central Bureau of Investigation lodged an First Information Report (FIR) on 9 October 2006 and claimed that George Fernandes the Indian defense minister at that time, and the Former Chief of the Indian Navy, Admiral Sushil Kumar were involved. The FIR notes that the Indian Defence Research & Development Organization had sought to block the import of the Barak system right until the end. The FIR restates R.K. Jain's admission to Tehelka that 3 per cent of this cost went to Fernandes and Jaya Jaitley as commission, while he himself was given 0.5 per cent. These commissions were paid to them by Suresh Nanda, the middleman in the deal, according to the Tehelka tapes.

Suresh Nanda, his son Sanjeev Nanda, and two others were arrested on the 9 March 2008 under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and section 201 (committing offense to cause disappearing of evidence) related to the scandal.

Friday, 28 October 2011

Sukh Ram telecom scam

He himself would have never thought that a bribe of Rs. 3 Lakhs could land him into trouble after 15 years. Special Judge RP Pandey, convicted 84-year-old Sukhram on charges of misusing his official position in awarding the contract and causing loss to the state exchequer, is likely to decide on quantum of sentence to him on Saturday.

The corruption case dates back to year 1996, when the telecom ministry was under Sukhram. Sukhram had awarded private firm Haryana Telecom Limited (HTL) a contract worth Rs 30 crore to supply 3.5 Lakh Conductor Kilometers (LCKM) of Polythene Insulated Jelly Filled (PIJF) cables to the telecom department.
Sukhram had been put on trial along with HTL chairman Devinder Singh Choudhary who died during the trial.
 
"Sukhram also obtained (illegal) gratification other than legal remunerations from Choudhary as a motive or reward for showing the favour to the said firm (HTL)," the judge said.

"It is not the prosecution case that Sukhram got only this much amount in this deal which runs into crores of rupees. The prosecution case is that the amount of Rs 3 lakh which was recovered from him was the bribe money.

"It is a matter of common knowledge that it is virtually impossible to get any direct evidence where both i.e bribe giver and the person who takes the bribe, worked in joint concert," ASJ Pandey said in his 188-page order.

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Harshad Mehta Stock Market Scam


Harshad Shantilal Mehta was born in a modest Gujarati family. He was alleged to have engineered the rise of the BSE in 1992 by exploiting several loopholes in the country's banking system.

Harshad Mehta and his associates siphoned off funds from inter-bank transactions and bought shares in huge numbers at a premium across different segments, triggering a false rise in the Sensex.

When the scheme was exposed, banks started demanding their money back, causing the Bombay stock market to collapse. He was later charged with 72 criminal offenses and more than 600 civil action suits were filed against him.

In April 1992, press reports indicated that there was a shortfall in the govt securities held by the State Bank of India (SBI). In about a months time investigations uncovered the securities scam involving misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs.3,500 crore.

The scam engulfed top executives of large nationalized banks, foreign banks, financial institutions, brokers, bureaucrats & politicians. In less than two months following the scam, the stock prices dropped by over 40%, wiping out market value to the tune of a whopping Rs.100,000 crore.

He took the price of ACC from 200 to 9000. That was an increase of 4400%!!!

The market went up like crazy and the bulls were on a mad run. Since he had to book profits in the end, the day he sold was the day when the market crashed. One lesser known fact about this scam is that there was a very important player in this scam who managed to keep a very low profile. That man was Nimesh Shah. He was just as involved as Harshad Mehta but he knew how keep out of the hands of the law. Nimesh Shah still deals in the stock market and is known to be a heavy player. Harshad Mehta is now dead. It is rumored that when he died, he still had 10% of ACC shares with him.

Reference : http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/big-bull-harshad-mehta-pays-dues-9-years-after-death/1/132637.htm

Madhu Koda Mining Scam

On 10 October 2009, he was charged with laundering money. The Income Tax Department uncovered over 4000 crore in illegal assets owned by Koda. Among others, these assets were reported to include hotels and three companies in Mumbai, property in Kolkata, a hotel in Thailand, and a coal mine in Liberia. This alleged scam is said to be the second-largest scam uncovered in India in 2009 and gets his name included in the list of controversial Indian businessman like Hasan Ali Khan and Harshad Mehta.

In the probes, it was found that Maoists received a 30% share of the "Koda plunder". This has led to staunch criticism of Koda from sections of society, including the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi stated Koda was part of a corrupt network of Congress Party who stole money from Jharkhand.

In July 2011, the Member of Parliament, Mr. Madhu Koda was transferred to Delhi's high profile Tihar Jail from Chaibasa Central Jail after being given permission by the Jharkhand Vigilance Court so that he can attend the monsoon session of the Parliament.