Modi's claim that Congress received black money from Adani and Ambani is an 'election gimmick' : Lokpal.

The Lokpal of India has dismissed a petition seeking investigation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his recent Lok Sabha election campaign speech in which he said that industrialists Adani and Ambani were funding the Congress party with black money. The Lokpal said the Prime Minister's speech “bordered on conjecture and speculation” and was “election propaganda” based on “imaginary or imaginary facts” to corner the opponent.

The Lokpal has said in its order that the essence of the speech borders on conjecture and speculation. It is purely election propaganda, aimed at giving a questionnaire based on imaginary or fictitious facts to corner the opponent. The authority headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice A.M. Khanwilkar found that there is no basis for taking action as per the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013. In his speech, the Prime Minister asked several questions to the opposition party, including how much money was recovered from these two industrialists. This speech was given by the Prime Minister during his election campaign in Telangana in April this year. It went viral and the complainant provided its copies to the Lokpal.

The order said that this statement may amount to indulging in shadow boxing. However, by no standards, such a hypothetical questionnaire can be construed as revealing any information containing verifiable allegations of corruption against another public functionary requiring intervention by the Lokpal. Addressing a Lok Sabha election rally in Karimnagar, Telangana on May 24, Modi had asked whether the Congress was taking money from Adani and Ambani. How much money did the Congress collect from Adani and Ambani for elections? “How many bags of black money have been collected? Have tempos full of notes reached the Congress?” he had said. Based on these comments, a complaint was filed before the Lokpal on May 9, seeking an inquiry into the allegations against Modi.

The Lokpal is an anti-corruption body empowered to investigate allegations of corruption against top public functionaries, including the prime minister, cabinet ministers, MPs and Group A officials at the Centre. The complainant accused Modi of “failing to investigate the matter based on the information collected by him from the intelligence wing of the government”. Under the Lokpal Act, the identity of the complainant cannot be disclosed.

In its eight-page order, the anti-corruption body refrained from naming the prime minister but said that “it is the duty of the Lokpal to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations of corruption against public servants.” “The Lokpal, without getting entangled in technicalities, will not hesitate to take action against all such persons who are prima facie involved in the offence of corruption – no matter how high-ranking they may be,” it said. The Lokpal also dismissed the plea seeking probe against Gandhi, unidentified tempo owners, Adani and Ambani as “unsubstantiated and unsubstantiated facts about their complicity in the offence of corruption”. They can be treated at most as complainants or witnesses, but certainly not as accomplices or accused in the alleged offence of corruption, the order said.

Commenting on the allegations, the authority said that the allegations are “untrue and based on uncorroborated facts”. Thus, the Lokpal dismissed the complaint stating that it is based on uncorroborated facts or, for that matter, lacks concrete material disclosing the commission of the offence of corruption. The anti-corruption authority Lokpal headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice A.M. Khanwilkar has other members: Justice L. Narayana Swamy, Justice Sanjay Yadav, Sushil Chandra, Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Pankaj Kumar, Ajay Tirkey.