AAP funding allegation: Malicious move by desperate BJP, says Meera Sanyal

A day after Aam Aadmi Party’s breakaway group called the AVAM (AAP Volunteers Action Manch) levelled charges of “dubious funding” to the Arvind Kejriwal-led political outfit by “bogus companies”, the party is set to turn the tables on political rivals, especially the BJP, by demanding a probe into the source of funding of all parties. AAP leader Meera Sanyal feels the latest revelation is a desperate move by the BJP to check the surge in popularity of her party. [caption id=“attachment_1425973” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Meera Sanyal. Agencies.[/caption] AVAM’s Karan Singh and Gopal Goel had accused the AAP of receiving four donations of Rs 50 lakh each from bogus companies registered on fake addresses at 12 at night on April 5, 2014. They named four companies and said they were checking on 31 companies. The BJP has made a big issue of it by lampooning the AAP in its latest advertisement. Terming the allegation “false, malicious and sponsored”, AAP leader and well-known banker Meera Sanyal questioned the time of the “expose”. “We are being targeted for accepting the donations through legal ways. But unfortunately, everyone is maintaining silence on the timing of the allegations,” Sanyal told Firstpost asking that “as claimed by AVAM, the transaction was done five days before the Lok Sabha elections last year. If it was a case of money laundering, as alleged, or the funding firm does not exist, they should have raised the issue much earlier. Why did they wait for nearly 10 months came forward with the truth just three days before Delhi goes to poll”? Sanyal, the former CEO and chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland in India, who was involved in banking services for over 30 years before stepping down from RBS to join the AAP, said, “This is a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the party before the February 7 polls and mysterious fronts have been floated by our political opponents for making false and malicious allegations against us.” “As a banker, I can tell you with full responsibility that all transactions are legitimate and its process is transparent. We got bank cheques from the donors, brought them into the notice of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the party as it is necessary for any donations exceeding Rs 10 lakh and after getting its clearance, the cheques were submitted in the bank account. As the transactions were completed, we uploaded its details on our website with the transaction ID. Therefore, there is nothing illegal in the entire process,” he said. When asked if the PAC investigated the credentials of the country and why all the transactions took place back-to-back on the same night, she said, “The PAC ensures that there are no irregularities in the transaction between the party and its donor. We cannot check the source of money of our each funder. In fact, it is even not our responsibility. It is the job of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Let them do this.” Challenging the central government to set up enquiry and punish the guilty, Sanyal said, “We are not scared of facing any probe. Constitute an enquiry and come clean on this. If we are convicted, we will face action.” She further alleged anticipating its defeat, the BJP has got frustrated and hired people to malign us by levelling baseless charges against us. “Learning lessons from the past, we had already warned electorates that such dirty tricks would be played just two-three days before the polls so that truth cannot be knows,” she added. A sting operation was conducted by a website Media Sarkar few days before the 2013 Delhi assembly polls alleged that several AAP leaders, including Shazia Ilmi, were raising funds for the party through illegal means. Later, the sting was found to be fake by the Election Commission. Meanwhile, the AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav, Ashutosh, Ashish Khetan and Kumar Vishwas will submit a letter to the Supreme Court today for a SIT to probe into the funding of the BJP, the Congress and the AAP.