On Tuesday, April 9, former Law Minister Kapil Sibal held a press conference at the Congress’s party headquarters, wherein he alleged a major scam involving currency exchange for commission post-demonetisation.
At the press conference, Sibal “played out a video clip of a sting operation in which, he claimed, a government official said BJP’s top leadership was involved,” The Hindu reported. The official was identified as one Rahul Retharekar of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and one of the clips Sibal played even included a shot of what was purportedly his identity card. Retharekar claimed to an undercover reporter that officials from 26 government departments were involved in the money exchange scheme, The Hindu said, adding that Sibal, citing the conversation in the sting video, “alleged that the RAW official claimed currency notes worth thousands of crores were printed abroad and transported into India by special aircraft.”
In the video, Retharekar claims that duplicate notes worth Rs. 3 lakh crore were printed overseas and then brought in an Indian Air Force plane to Hindon air base in India, the Deccan Herald noted. However, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence denied this, saying, “It is categorically refuted that any Indian Air Force aircraft was tasked to fly abroad for carrying currency prior to, during or after demonetization as alleged in a video released today,” Hindustan Times reported.
Retharekar also “said the money was being used for a currency exchange operation which was being controlled from the ‘very top’ and the entire operation was monitored by a separate department headed by one Nipun Sharan in the Prime Minister’s Office,” the Deccan Herald reported, noting that Sibal “claimed Sharan reported directly to BJP President Amit Shah,” but also said that Nipun Sharan could be a pseudonym, as he was unable to verify if a Nipun Sharan worked in the PMO.
In another video clip that was played, an employee of a private bank purportedly conducted an exchange of old currency notes for new notes. “The manager of the Fort branch of IndusInd bank in Mumbai, Sanjay Shane (Channe), is seen facilitating the exchange of Rs 100 crore of old currency with new currency,” reportedly in a Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) godown, NewsClick said.
Sibal said the all the videos were available on www.tnn.world, which is the website of Tricolour News Network (TNN). However, as multiple media organisations noted, he did not verify the authenticity of the videos, instead saying “that all the names mentioned in the clip were in the public domain and could be independently verified by the agencies,” NewsClick said.
Speaking to HuffPost India, Sibal noted that after December 31, 2016 (which was the final deadline for exchange currency post the demonetisation announcement), “there were huge exchanges taking place right up to 2018 of conversion of cash into 2,000 rupee notes. 500 rupee into 2,000 rupee notes.” He added, “The kind of commission that people took in the process was 16-40%. So for every transaction if you get 15-40% which is, part of it goes to the BJP, you can imagine the kind of money that these people made. Which is why it’s perhaps the biggest scam in the history of India,” telling HuffPost India that the RAW official was “just one field assistant,” and that there were “26 others; 22 men and four women. Doing the same thing all over the country.”
Sibal called it “an enterprise to earn money for the BJP from the exchange of currency,” but when asked by HuffPost if he was accusing BJP President Amit Shah of being involved, he said, “I am not accusing anybody. This is what the tape says.” Sibal highlighted the transaction at the MIDC godown, and recalled a previous instance in which he, in late March, showed a video of “this wall of 2,000 rupee notes” in Gujarat. “How could it have happened without complicity? That has to be investigated,” he told HuffPost.
Sibal stated, “If any banker or a government employee or a treasury employee can exchange such huge amounts of currency…this amounts to treason. Nothing can be more anti-national than this”. Current Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad responded to Sibal’s allegations, saying, “Kapil Sibal has made false allegations on our (party) president (Amit Shah) and we will take legal action,” PTI reported.
Sibal’s complete press conference can be viewed here.