#HawalaAtMidnight burst onto the social media just before the 2015 Delhi elections. If referred to ₹2 crore of untraceable money coming into Aam Aadmi Party’s accounts at midnight. It referred to four “donations” of ₹50 lakh each by benaami companies. Neil Haslam, a former AAP member, made these accusations and was ridiculed by AAP supporters. Apparently the voters (and the EVMs) of Delhi were not convinced either. AAP, as we remember, went on to score a historic win.
Today those companies and donations are back in news.
Estranged AAP leader Kapil Mishra, on a fast for last few days, held a press conference and made allegations of money laundering against Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party. He has shown several undated cheques with large amounts made out to AAP.
The amounts range from a few lakhs to two cheques of 35,00,00,000 each. That’s right, it’s a scam upwards of seventy crores.
Kapil Mishra’s Press Conference Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOmDcyONIBU
Several of these cheques were issued by the same companies that were involved in Hawala At Midnight. As per Kapil Mishra, Those companies were Infolance Software Solution Ltd, Goldmine Buildcon Private Ltd, Skyline Metal and Alloys Pvt. Ltd, and Sunvision Agencies Pvt. Lt.
This could be the top of the iceberg though. Many of these forms are registered to the same address, and Mr Kapil Mishra accused that Mr Kejriwal is their secret owner. The total number is a staggering 187 firms including 8 foreign firms.
The allegation is that there is a large racket for converting black money to white. Hawala money was being channeled to AAP via untraceable donations and thus converted to white. We remember how badly demonetisation had hurt hawala. This may be one of the reasons Kejriwal was so rattled during demonetisation. If these allegations prove to be correct, demonetisation was hurting AAP and maybe even his personal bottom line.
Other allegations include apparent benami donations by someone called Priya Bansal. She donated ₹80 lakhs to AAP but her IT returns only show an income of ₹4,000. There are also allegations and papers that show shell companies managed by AAP MLA Shiv Charan Goyal donated to AAP. There were investments in shell companies in the name of the wife of AAP MLA Naresh Yadav and there may be reason to believe that Kejriwal was aware of that.
The list of financial crimes alleged is even longer. After a point it stops to register, but we must not let that happen. This dump of information and documents needs not just proper criminal investigation but a change in public perception.
For too long now, Kejriwal has played a holier than thou game. He has made allegations, often baseless, and used a common man persona to project honesty and outsider status. He has successfully fooled many in Delhi and beyond. We have forgotten that he and his wife have roots as civil servants specialising in finance. They are the ultimate insiders in the game of financial manipulation.
Neil Terrance Haslam, ridiculed and mistrusted for so long, has been vindicated by this expose. His assertion that those two crores were just the top of an iceberg has come true. In fact there is reason to believe that even after today’s revelations we are just scratching the surface of how deep the rot goes. Links to benami foreign firms raises the spectre of finding by those who wish to destabilise India. Khalistan and Naxal links of AAP show that this group is not at all averse to using anti-national agents. Is it possible that AAP is a front for a group of anti-national interests? Time will tell.
For now, the duty of us citizens and netizens is to demand answers from AAP and prompt investigation by the authorities. This might even lead to a cleanup of electoral funding. If that happens, AAP would have made its first contribution to cleaning Indian politics, even if unintentionally.