New Delhi: More than 99 cases have been registered against lawmakers (both Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Assembly) across the country in the last five years by central agencies for their alleged involvement in economic offences.
The data was shared by the Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur in the Lok Sabha Monday in response to a question asked by Congress MP Benny Behanan.
While the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered over 14 cases, booking 18 MPs and MLAs (former and sitting), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered 82 cases against public representatives under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
Even the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has registered three cases of economic offenses against politicians.
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Cases against sitting and former lawmakers
Out of the 18 members booked by the CBI, two are sitting MPs and nine former MPs, while five are sitting MLAs and two former MLAs.
Similarly, two out of the three cases registered by the CBIC are against former MPs and one case against a former MLA. The ED did not give a breakup of the current and former lawmakers against whom cases have been registered.
During the question hour session, Congress MP Behanan also asked for details of cases registered by the Income Tax (IT) department against public representatives but failed to get a clear answer. In a written reply, Thakur only stated that the IT department “does not maintain category wise details” of cases.
His reply also stated that the IT department takes appropriate action against everyone, including present and former lawmakers, for evasion of taxes according to provisions of the Income Tax Act.
“Such action under direct tax laws includes searches and seizures, surveys, inquiries, assessment of income, levy of taxes, penalties etc and filing of provisions complaints In criminal routes, wherever applicable,” Thakur’s reply said.
When asked for details of action taken against the MPs and MLAs, Thakur said all cases were at various stages of probe and disclosure of details at this juncture may not be in the “larger public interest as the same may hamper the ongoing investigations”.
(Edited by Myithili Hazarika)
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