Corruption News

A CAG audit has found that the combined investments of Rs 3,000 crore by Jamsetji Tata Trust and Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust are in prohibitive modes, which means that it cannot be accepted as charitable in nature. Considering the misuse of income tax exemptions, the government has initiated steps to recover over Rs 1,000 crore from the two trusts.

As per a report by an anti-corruption website (www.ipaidabribe.com), Bangalore is the the most corrupt city in the country, followed by Chennai. The report is based on confession of 22,378 individuals, who accepted of having paid a bribe, mostly for electricity connection, passport verification and admission to educational institutions.

The Central Economic Intelligence Bureau has detected 174 cases during Jan-July this year involving tax evasion of Rs 386 crore and routing of black money of around Rs 3,000 crore. The CEIB also detected Rs 2,280 crore of unaccounted income being allegedly routed through Private Placement Programme, which has emerged as a new method for converting black money into white.

Siliguri police commissioner K Jayaraman, who ordered the arrest of Malda district magistrate Godala Kiran Kumar for his alleged involvement in a multi-crore scam, was removed from his post on Saturday. Hours within the DM's arrest, the government removed Jayaraman for not consulting higher-ups in the administration, as protocol demands, before arresting the IAS officer.

North Korea, Afghanistan and Somalia are the world's most corrupt countries while Denmark and New Zealand are nearly squeaky-clean, graft watchdog Transparency International said on Tuesday. India ranked 94 on the index, while Pakistan and China ranked 127 and 80 respectively. Among countries that have slipped the most on the 2013's Corruption Perceptions Index are war-torn Syria, Libya and Mali.

An Indian Express investigation claims that several top politicians across the political spectrum have failed to declare the actual value of their immovable assets. For example, UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi mentioned in 2004 and 2009 declarations that the value of her land in Mehrauli (Delhi) was Rs 2.19 lakh, whereas its real value was estimated to be 8.37 crore.

Delhi's Election Commission has detected five more "paid news" instances associated with five assembly election candidates, who added the amount spent on "paid news" in their poll expenses. Overall, 60 complaints of paid news have been received by Delhi's Election office so far. Besides, surveillance teams have seized over Rs1.31 crore cash in poll-bound Delhi, till date.

In a sting operation carried out by a reputed news daily, some prominent leaders of major parties, like BJP and Congress, were caught on cameras using their offices as liquor safe houses a day ahead of Delhi polls. The free flow of booze, aimed at luring the voters, was witnessed across the city.

Election Commission-appointed teams seized Rs 1.64 crore cash and 41,000 liquor bottles and registered 21 cases of paid news in Delhi where polling for the state Assembly was held on Wednesday. According to official data, other inducements (sarees, gifts, etc.) worth Rs 4.40 lakh were also seized by the EC-appointed flying squads and surveillance teams.

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Centre, RBI, Enforcement Directorate and a dozen major charted accounting firms on a PIL alleging massive bungling by them and demanding a probe into it. The PIL alleged that these firms, including Price waterhouse Coopers (PwC), are flouting IT Act, FEMA, RBI regulations as well as massive evasion of tax.

According to a report titled 'Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2002-2011', total black money outflow from India in 2011 was nearly $84.93 billion (Rs. 5 lakh crore) which places India at the third place. Six of the top 15 exporters of illicit capital in 2011 are from Asia. Illicit outflows from developing countries have significantly outpaced their GDP growth.

A sting operation by investigating website Cobrapost has caught 11 MPs on camera, who were allegedly willing to issue letters of recommendation to promote a fake oil firm, for money. Moreover, some MPs were found willing to lobby with the highest level of the petroleum ministry, to help the company secure oil exploration and rigging rights in the north-east.

A sub-inspector and five aides of Asaram's son Narayan Sai (40) were detained on Friday for allegedly attempting to bribe the cops and other officials in a bid to weaken the sexual assault case against him. Police have seized Rs.5 crore (from Sai's aides) that was allegedly meant to be given as bribe to cops, doctors, and judicial officials.

The Supreme Court, 3.5-years ago, had found that the rules for allotment of foreign language to IFS officers was changed only for Devyani Khobragade's batch (1999) to ensure she got her chosen language. "A great amount of political pressure was put on the authorities concerned, as Khobragade happened to be daughter of a powerful IAS officer," the prosecutor had alleged.

Congress-ruled states will enact Lokayukta legislations on the lines of Centre's Lokpal by February-end, a resolve aimed at positioning the party strongly in the fight against corruption. The 12 states will put CMs and ministers under the ambit of the anti-graft ombudsman, and will empower investigating agencies with prosecution wings under them, free of the control of the law ministry.

Six Army officers, including two Brigadier rank officials, have been booked by Ajmer Police for allegedly harassing a junior officer after he raised his voice against certain irregularities. In his complaint, Lt Col Arun Kumar (54) alleged that his superiors conspired and tried to prove him mentally ill after he complained against the corrupt practices of some senior officers.