The years of UPA government represented the era of crony capitalism and corruption. The family, friends, and relatives of leaders got special privileges in every deal and there was no respect for the rule of law. Another big expose that comes out of the UPA era is ‘Robert Vadra’, the son in law of Gandhi family. As per a report published by the Indian Express, the firm that gave loans to a company to purchase land from Robert Vadra at premium price secured tax breaks from the Income Tax department. Bhushan Power and Steel Limited (BPSL) gave an unsecured loan to a company which bought land at a price seven times higher than the market price.
Allegney Finlease Pvt. Ltd, a Delhi based company secured loan of 5.64 crores from BPSL to buy land from Vadra’s Sky Light Hospitality in Bikaner. The land was purchased in 2011-12 and at the same time Settlement Commission admitted a case by BPSL against IT department. Earlier, IT department had issued a show-cause notice to BPSL regarding income additions worth 800 crores from 2004-05 to 2011-12. However, the land deal Settlements Commission reduced the quantum of income addition amount for BPSL to 317 crore rupees, almost 500 crores less than the previous amount. Additionally, it also granted BPSL immunity from penalty and prosecution. The Settlements Commission bench that gave the final order was reconstituted and the members of the earlier bench who maintained a tough stance on Vadra were expunged.
Akhilesh Prasad, the chairman of Settlements Commission that passed an order on the case refrained from making any statement in the matter. “It’s been more than five years since that order was passed. It was a long time back and I don’t remember its details, ” said Prasad. The best part of the story is that Allegney Finlease Pvt. Ltd did not pay back the loans to BPSL, as per its filings to Registrar of Companies. ED director, Karnal Singh has asked for details of the case from the Settlements Commission two months ago. “This was a follow-up letter to a previous ED query on the same lines to which the Commission had said that records were destroyed in a fire,” said a source.
This case is an example of the blatant abuse of power by members of the Gandhi family during the UPA era. Robert Vadra rigged the system, got the Settlements Commission bench reconstituted to favour a company which gave loans to purchase lands at seven times higher price than the actual price. The judicial system of the country was compromised for the profit of a person who happens to be the son-in-law of Gandhi family. This is just one example of corruption and crony capitalism which were buzzwords of the UPA government. The allies of Congress party in UPA government also made historic ‘loot and plunder’ and plunder of public money. From A Raja to Lalu Yadav, everyone manipulated the system because Congress needed their support to run the government. Majority of the allies of Congress have similar traits, they have been nepotistic, corrupt, and manipulated the system for personal gains. Therefore ‘weak’ Congress government with weakest prime minister since independence who was nothing more than a puppet in hands of Sonia Gandhi, gave space to corruption and crony capitalism.