AAP accused of getting funds from bogus firms

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) A breakaway group yesterday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of receiving donations worth Rs20mn from bogus companies.

The Bharatiya Janata Party questioned the funding but the AAP rejected the allegation as "malicious and false propaganda" unleashed by "mysterious fronts" created by the BJP.

With assembly polls in Delhi less than a week away, the AAP also challenged the BJP-led central government to probe the source of funding which, it said, has already been investigated twice earlier.
Gopal Goyal, a member of the AAP Volunteer Action Manch (AVAM) breakaway group, yesterday said there were four donations each of Rs5mn by four bogus companies to the AAP.
He claimed that the funds were received on April 5 at midnight and the companies that made the donations were bogus.

The AVAM was formed by some AAP members in 2014 over the demand for decentralisation of power in the party.

Addressing a press conference here, Goyal said none of the donor companies had earned even a single rupee, but donated such a huge amount.

"Where do they get their money from," asked Goyal, saying he was ready to face punishment if his charges were found to be false.

The AAP said in a statement that it was the only political party in India whose entire donations were in public domain and fully transparent. It said every rupee donated to the party was declared on its website for public scrutiny.
"It has been wrongly alleged that the AAP has accepted funds from dubious sources on 5 April 2014," the statement said.

Describing the BJP as "frustrated and desperate," the AAP said it was spreading lies.

"The BJP and some mysterious fronts created by it close to the Delhi assembly elections have unleashed a malicious and false propaganda on the funding of the AAP," the statement said.

"Since today morning, a defamatory smear campaign is being run against the AAP to confuse the people and divert attention from important issues concerning the people of Delhi," the AAP statement added.

It also said the party funding has already been probed twice by the previous Congress-led government and now the BJP-led government.

"The party also challenges the government to probe its funding from any of the agencies at its command as many times as it wants," the statement added.

The BJP, meanwhile, said the AAP had no right to question the funding of other parties until it revealed its own.

"Four fake companies, with same directors, and made within a period of 10-11 days, donated Rs50 lakh each to the AAP on the same day," BJP leader and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said.
Citing the donation rules, Goyal said a company can donate only 7.5% of its average annual profit plus tax for three years as political donation.
Another BJP leader, Nirmala Sitharaman, who is also the commerce and industry minister, said: "AAP ... till you give specific answers, stop telling other political parties what high ground you are seated on."
Sitharaman meanwhile posed the BJP's fifth set of questions for AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal asking him to explain his relations with convicted Maoists as well as private power distribution companies.
The BJP leader asked the former chief minister to answer why convicted Maoists are important members of his party committees, and are given tickets.
"Binayak Sen, convicted by court for Naxal (Moaist) activities, is an important member of AAP internal committees. Kejriwal should explain this relationship," she said.
Similarly, she accused AAP of having close connections with private electricity companies.
"First you give them subsidies by diverting money from SC/ST welfare and then to further deceive Delhi voters, you announce an infructuous audit against them knowing full well the statute limitation that such audit is time barred.
"Will you explain this special partnership with discoms?" asked Sitharaman.
Thirdly, the BJP asked Kejriwal to explain why he and his party members were attacking and threatening the media.
Sitharaman, in her fourth question asked why Kejriwal could not contest elections without allying with Maoists and other forces inimical to India's interests.
In its final question, the BJP asked why Kejriwal was misleading the traders of Delhi by claiming that no VAT raids were conducted against them during his 49-day rule in Delhi whereas over 150 raids took place in his tenure.