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As the data from the State Bank of India released by the Election Commission (EC) revealed at least 14 out of the top 30 companies which purchased electoral bonds faced action by central or state probe agencies, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday questioned if the earlier systems were 100 per cent perfect.
She also termed the ‘talk’ of links between probe agency raids and election bonds ‘assumptions’.
“I think you’ve based yourself on huge assumptions, that the money was given after the Enforcement Directorate raid happened,” Sitharaman said, commenting on a question about the data released.
“For all you know, the money was given earlier, and despite that, we went knocking at their doors,” she said.
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“What if the companies gave the money, and after that, we still went and knocked at their doors through the Enforcement Directorate? That’s an assumption that the ED went and knocked at their doors, they wanted to save themselves, and therefore they came up with the funds,” the Finance Minister said.
“The second assumption in that itself is, are you sure they gave it to the BJP? They probably gave it to the regional parties.”
“The government has given and the SBI has done its job as per the orders given by the Supreme Court,” she said.
“The case is still in court, the verdict has come and the State Bank of India will submit what it has to,” Sitharaman said.
“But, were the earlier systems 100 per cent perfect?” the Finance Minister asked.
“Let us just recall what my predecessor (former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley), when he brought these electoral bonds, said, ‘this is better than the previous systems as the money is going from accounts to party’s account’,” she said.
“It’s not a perfect system, but we have moved from a system where everyone did what they want to do,” the Finance Minister said, adding, “A system which was not perfect, from a system which was completely imperfect, was brought in.”
