New Delhi: The BJP launched a broadside against the Congress on Wednesday, with party spokesperson Sambit Patra releasing documents that alleged Water Resources and Medical Education Minister D. K. Shivakumar using a 'hawala link' to route money to the Congress party.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a money laundering case against Congress leader Mr Shivakumar in Karnataka and his associates on the basis of an alleged tax evasion and hawala transaction case.
“Congress and corruption has become synonymous. Unaccounted cash, hawala transactions and corrupt deals, these are the pillars on which the Congress sits,” Patra said while presenting confessional statements of accused Anjaneya Haumanthaiah, an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi and others to the Income Tax Department. He said that their statements show the money trail from Karnataka leads to the All India Congress Committee (AICC).
“The documents show that money was being transferred to the AICC office, not in lakhs or crores but in kilos'.” Citing a statement by DK Shivakumar's driver to the I-T Department, Patra said " Now we know, why Congress party was crying during demonetization."
The Karnataka Bhavan employee Hanumanthaiah told I-T officials that he used to carry money to the AICC that was brought by N Rajendra, caretaker of the Karnataka Bhavan, and that he was escorted by Rajendra and Mr. Shivakumar's driver Jagdeesh Chand, to the AICC office, Mr. Patra said.
The ED had booked Shivakumar and Hanumanthaiah under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), based on a chargesheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the I-T Department against him early this year.
The I-T Department has accused Shivakumar and his associate SK Sharma of transporting unaccounted cash on a regular basis through 'hawala' channels with help of the three other accused.
