Shantanu Guha Ray - Hushed silence over Delhi ATM heist points to larger story
The last word has not been said in the recent case of a
runaway driver of an armoured cash carrier in Delhi that has got the city’s
political and corporate circles talking in hushed tones. The focus – it is
needless to explain – revolves around the generation old business of hawala
that lies in the core of India’s thriving cash economy.
There are, of course, some fireflies on the social media who
are asking some very, very pertinent questions. How come Rs 22.5 crore was
found in a van that had a voucher of Rs 10 crore. Worse, how come the cash was
kept lose in trunks? And how come no one knew when, where and for whom the
extra cash was loaded?
The Axis Bank, which was at the center of a sting operation
in 2013 that showed its officers openly turning black cash into white by
opening multiple accounts in the name of fake holders, have played it very
safe. It said it was moving Rs 38 crores for its ATMs across Delhi and had
asked four vans owned by the SIS Group to equally distribute the booty. Each
van, armed with a guard and gun, was to carry approximately Rs 10 crore each.
But the driver of the arrested van, who sped away leaving the guard behind,
told cops the heisted van was carrying Rs 12.5 crores of extra cash that
belonged to some unknown persons.
The police press note did not trigger much suspicion,
further trolls on the social media raised major doubts about the consignment
and its delivery point. Suspicions also went high because the cash was in box
with standard locks, and not sealed locks as mentioned in the RBI rule book. It
was relatively easy for the driver to open up one of the boxes and spent Rs
30,000 on liquor and tips to waiters at a seedy bar close to one of the
national highways.
Antennas went high after veteran political commentator Mohan
Guruswamy wrote on his Facebook wall that he was sanguine that the cash belong
to a politician or a political party. He even described the company, SIS –
Security and Intelligence Services – as being Patna-based and owned by Buxar
born BJP Rajya Sabha MP, RK Sinha, a former journalist who covered the 1971
Indo-Pak war. Interestingly, BJP routinely uses SIS to handle its cash
transportation across India.
But the party did not comment, the Delhi Police remained
silent on the issue, so did the Enforcement Directorate – which tracks hawala –
and the Income Tax Department. By Delhi standards, Rs 12 crore could be loose
cash for Diwali card parties but what alarmed many was that a van hired by a
popular bank was used for such purposes.
Transportation of cash – it is common knowledge – is a major
task for political parties, especially at a time when elections cost thousands
of crores, some argued over coffee and conversations at Delhi’s favourite
hotspot, the Khan Market. In short, they said there would be no answers
forthcoming in this case, and that it will die its own death.
But the incident was indeed an alarm, especially at a time
when revenue intelligence agencies closely watched hundreds of vehicles
carrying cash for ATMs across Bihar to stop rampant use of black money during
Assembly elections. The move followed because cash vans are exempted from
checks as it is the responsibility of banks to do the necessary. But despite
such hawk-eye presence of the Central agencies in Bihar, an estimated Rs 35
crore in cash, including Rs 19 crore under a special hawala operation, was
seized by Election Commission in the run up to the Bihar polls.
The Bihar cash recovery operation happened after the ED – in
April this year – cracked a biggie, catching hawala operators who – fearing
their cash would be robbed in the land route – using an ingenious route of
railway consignments to intended customers. As a result, they were booking rail
wagons in bulk to send and receive huge amounts of cash hidden in parcels.
But the Bihar incident, and now another one in the Indian
Capital, proves nothing has changed in India which, as per the Washington-based
think tank, Global Financial Integrity, ranks next to Russia and China (in that
order) with an estimated $94 billion illicit wealth outflows in 2012. Early
this year, a pink daily reported how SD Shibulal, CEO of Infosys owned 700
apartments worth $100 million in Seattle. But no one asked him how he owned all
those apartments.
Raymond Baker, author of Dirty Money and How to Renew the
Free Market, writes that, since 1970, at least $5 trillion has moved out of
poorer countries to the banking systems of the West. And a portion of this
black money comes back to India — election time. And the entire process is
unofficial but all political parties are very quiet about it.
If its troubled cash, no one talks in India.
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