It is just that the regime’s topmost operatives and big businesses laundered cash on an unprecedented scale, a global shame.

CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT spans over 750 hectares (80.73 million sq ft) across three terminals.

The land in the airport area is currently valued at Rs. 27,227 per sq. ft. This alone makes the land in the airport worth Rs. 2.198 lakh crore.

Add a conservative arbitrary similar amount spent by AAI and GoMH in developing this area over the years before it was transferred to Adani Airports after the latter helped raise $5 bn (Rs. 41681 crore) to discharge of GMR’s debt on that airport.

Despite the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raiding GMR before the handover of Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), in January 2023, the CBI reported to the court that no instance of corruption was found after its investigation, which concluded in less than three years after the FIR was lodged—a record for the agency.

In effect, Adani obtained MIAL, worth over Rs. 5 lakh crore (without considering any underhand cash dealings), for a paltry ~Rs. 42,000 crore or just 8.34% of the cost of MIAL. The lease for MIAL ends in 50 years. Adani also paid a paltry amount of Rs. 2,240 crore for lease rights for 50 years over six other major airports.

For each airport, a Passenger/Development Fee would be shared with AAI after passengers were billed for it. All this was based on the presumption that the PPP model would result in massive redevelopment of all these airports. For now, the quality of services is abysmal in each of these airports while AAI raises the Fee at regular intervals, making airline travel even more expensive.

Similarly, Adani has acquired several ports on the eastern and western seaboards, Asia’s largest solar energy farm in Rajasthan, land for grain silos, and much more at throwaway prices. Yet, never has the Competition Commission of India ever raised any objection to this massive concentration of economic power in either the Adani or Ambani groups.

Take, for instance, the windfall profits of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) using the Government of India’s diplomatic representation in Russia to buy crude at concessional prices (via Indian Oil Corporation Limited as the canalizing agency), process them in RIL’s Jamnagar Refinery, and export finished products to an ethics-less Western world that imposed sanctions on Russia but exempted India from them.

Profit margins for RIL in a Ukraine war-propelled world were unprecedented but did not add a single paisa to India’s per capita income but added to India’s fictitious GDP and export figures.

As if that were not enough, RIL’s huge Jamnagar refinery had processing facilities way higher than any state refiner. That helped RIL to request and obtain the transfer of feedstock of Russian crude from state refiners to RIL (the state refiners lost while RIL gained).

That is how RIL’s profit and loss accounts since the Ukraine war broke out have been super healthy and generated enough to buy back its shares from the equity market, leading to an even greater concentration of economic power, an oligarchy, like Adani and Tata.

This leads me to the issue of electoral bonds (EB). It now appears that 300 shell companies (most disappeared) bought EBs. No one had heard of major Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) dole out depositors’ cash to buying EBs.

NBFCs attract public deposits and pay a fixed interest rate over a given tenure. From where would they dole cash to EBs? How would they repay depositors?

Yet, neither SEBI nor CCI nor RBI have coordinated actions to cancel the licenses of all these NBFCs, pending investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), CBI, Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), etc. So where did such humongous amounts of cash originate?

The answer lies in the ~Rs. 28,000 crore of EBs issued between 2018 and 2024. An EB is a promissory note that, in layman’s terms, is currency, akin to an uncrossed bearer cheque.

For instance, if ‘X’ were to buy a Rs. one crore EB via his/her bank account and sell it almost instantly to ‘Y’ for cash + 20% premium, in turn, ‘Y’ could sell it again for cash + another 20% premium in the second hour on the date of purchase itself.

This chain would continue for another 14 days—the window for final encashment in a bank—changing probably 5-6 buyers every day with the premium steadily rising as the last date neared.

At the end of 15 days, the humble single bond may have changed 75 hands, each stage in cash + premium of 20%, rising by at least 5% with each subsequent transaction, and the Rs. one crore EB would have laundered at least Rs. 75 crore, if not way more.

In effect, Rs. 28,000 crore of EBs may have laundered more than 75 times that value or Rs. 2.10 lakh crore at least. Now understand, who financed NBFCs and shell companies to hide their true identity.

More than two months have passed since the Supreme Court declared EBs unconstitutional, but not a single agency of the Government of India has filed FIRs against any EB buyer and the beneficiary’s President and Treasurer.

That, by itself, qualifies the Chief Executives for dismissal from government service without inquiry under Art. 311 (23) of the Constitution, aside from criminal cases for negligence, confiscation of all assets of the beneficiaries.

In fact, the trail of criminality originates from the Union Cabinet that approved this patently illegal scheme and piloted it through Parliament, after waiving critical limitations.

I have not even touched on the role of Praful Patel in wrecking Air India and its subsequent sale for a song to the Tatas. Interestingly, the Tatas contributed a whopping Rs. 2,500 crore to the PM-CARES Fund.

It is just that the regime’s topmost operatives and big businesses laundered cash on an unprecedented scale, a global shame.

And why not? Why else would the regime hand over public assets for a song? Obviously, it was not charity!

The trail of criminality starts at the top and lays naked the nexus of big businesses with the regime of the day.

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