AAP Funding Row: 'What Would Arvind Kejriwal, IRS Have Done?' Asks Arun Jaitley

New Delhi:

A day after Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal dared the government to arrest him if he has done anything wrong over allegations of dubious funding, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has hit back.

In an article, Mr Jaitley asks, "If Kejriwal were still a Revenue Service officer and a case of such money conversion through sham companies resulting in donations to a political party had landed on his table, what he would have done?"  

Following is the full text of the article by Mr Jaitley:

What would Arvind Kejriwal, IRS have done?

Some disillusioned members of the AAP have taken up the case of the party's dubious funding. The AAP is a brilliant propagandist. It claims to wear the label of honesty on its sleeves. It disclosed the names of a large number of corporate entities from whom it received donation by cheque. The disillusioned AAP members appear to have conducted a search of these with the Registrar of Companies. The search uncovered the curious character of the donor companies.

The companies do not do any business. They have no profits from any legitimate business. They are "Entry lending companies". The functioning of these "entry lending companies" is very simple. At times there are a large number of inter-connected companies created through a multi layering process. Money is got transferred from one to another. The companies are registered at obscure addresses. The directors of these companies are unknown people, usually name lenders for a miniscule consideration. These directors are usually low paid employees of those behind the racket. These companies are used either for hawala payments or round tripping of their own funds. They convert cash into cheque.

Most of these ingredients are present in the case of the companies which are donors of AAP. Surely, when a company donates lakhs and crores to a political party, the party would attempt to know as to who the controlling interest behind these companies are? The only fact that the donations have been made by cheque does not purify the transaction. Withdrawal from Swiss bank accounts can also be made by cheques. Where a political party converts black money into white, its receipt would obviously be by cheque. That cannot wash away the sins of the convertor or the recipient since the entire transaction is fraudulent and a tax evasion exercise. Arvind Kejriwal is not a novice to India's taxation laws. He is a former officer of the Indian Revenue Service. He knows very well that such transactions are dealt with under the Income Tax Act and not the Indian Penal Code. Why does he then dare the Finance Minister to arrest him? Is it only a bluff and bluster exercise? A company can donate a maximum of seven and half percent of its average net profit of the three preceding financial years to political party. Did the recipient Aam Aadmi Party verify this fact? Did it verify the controlling interest behind these companies? Can it even now tell us who was the individual who brought these donations and whether he had the financial resources to pay or was it a round tripping of its cash available?

If Kejriwal were still a Revenue Service officer and a case of such money conversion through sham companies resulting in donations to a political party had landed on his table, what he would have done? Would he have asked the assessee to write a letter to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India or allowed him to argue that a payment by cheque to political parties forgives all sins of black money conversion?

Would he have arrested the fraudulent assessee under the Indian Penal Code rather than proceeding under the Income Tax Act? Surely Kejriwal is not a stranger to the tax laws. He knew what his party was doing. He should be honest enough to tell the people what "Arvind Kejriwal, IRS" would have done under these circumstances?