Read also: Biggest scams of India post its independence – part 2
Coalgate (2012)
According to the draft report of CAG, an allegation was made that the central government did not invite competitive bids before allocating coal blocks to both private sector firms as well as public sector firms. The CAG estimated a loss of Rs. 1,067,303 crores to the government exchequer. The CBI has named a dozen Indian firms in the FIR in which investigation is still going on. On 11 March 2015, Special CBI judge took cognizance of the offence under Sections 120-B and 409 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Sections 13(1)(c), 13(1)(d)(iii) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Dr. Manmohan Singh and five other accused namely M/s. HINDALCO, Subendhu Amitabh, D. Bhattacharya, Kumar Mangalam Birla, P.C. Parakh. The Court then issued summons to the six accused. Singh and Parakh then approached the Supreme Court which on 1 April 2015 granted an interim stay against the order and stayed further proceedings against them before the special CBI Court.
UP NRHM scam (2012)
The scam amounts to Rs. 10,000 crores of a medical fund meant for health care deliveries in rural areas was allegedly looted by the ministers and officials of UP government. The scam is famous because two Chief Medical Officers, Dr. Vinod Arya, and Dr. B. P. Singh, were successively murdered in, Lucknow. Later, Deputy CMO Y.S. Sachan who was allegedly part of the scam also died in prison mysteriously.
Former Health and Family Welfare Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha was expelled from the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party after the case came to light. Later he was arrested by the CBI.
Radia Tapes Controversy (2013)
The Radia tapes controversy is the record of telephonic conversations between Nira Radia who was an acquaintance of the (then) Indian telecom minister A. Raja, senior journalists, politicians, and corporate houses. The tapes were recorded by the Indian Income Tax Department in 2008–09. The 2G scam is connected to this scam since Nira Radia used to run a public relations firm named Vaishnavi Communications, whose clients include the Tata Teleservices and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries who were initially named in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
Indian Premier League spot-fixing and betting case (2013)
Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila, and Ankeet Chavan, three cricketers were banned for life from cricket after it was found that they indulged in spot-fixing and pre-match fixing with bookies.
Aavin scam (2014)
The mass adulteration of milk supplied from various societies of Tamil Nadu State Milk Union resulted in the unearthing of a scam estimated to be ₹27 lakhs per day for the past 10 years. The investigating agencies later arrested Vaidyanathan, the owner of the delivery truck and jailed him later.
The National Herald (India) Land Scam (2015)
The National Herald scam is an ongoing case in a Delhi court. The case by Subramanian Swamy against politicians Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, their companies and associated persons alleges that Indian National Congress granted an interest-free loan of ₹90.25 crore (US$14 million) to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), owner of the National Herald newspaper which was established by Jawaharlal Nehru and other freedom fighters in 1938. It was alleged that the loan was either not repaid or repaid in cash, which is in violation of Section 269T of the Income Tax Act, 1961. A closely held company, Young Indian, was incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of ₹50 lakh (US$77,000) and it acquired almost all the shareholding of AJL and all its properties (alleged to be worth ₹5,000 crore (US$770 million))
Delhi Jal Board tanker scam and Delhi Power Scam (2015)
Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was accused of floating very costly tenders to the tune of Rs 400 crores. The ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau) has filed an FIR against former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and current Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal
In the Delhi power scam worth ₹8000 crores the CAG has reported that Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group BRPL is accused of inflating their dues to be recovered from consumers by almost ₹8,000 crores.
Gujarat fisheries scam (2015)
Gujarat ministers Purshottam Solanki of Bharatiya Janata Party and Dileepbhai Sanghani of Bharatiya Janata Party were accused of granting fishing contracts for 58 reservoirs worth Rs. 400 crores) to favored parties without following the mandatory auctioning process.
Virbhadra Singh disproportionate assets case (2015)
Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh of Indian National Congress Virbhadra Singh has been booked by the CBI for disproportionate assets worth over Rs. 6 crores that he allegedly embezzled between him and his family members.
Corporate espionage case (2015)
Officials of Reliance Industries, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Essar Group, Cairn India and Jubilant Energy have been accused of stealing documents from the Petroleum Ministry. An amount to the tune of Rs. 2.5 lakhs per month was being paid to the two accused, Lalta Prasad and Rakesh Kumar, who were the first to be arrested outside Shastri Bhavan in New Delhi. Shailesh Saxena from Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Vinay Kumar from Essar, KK Naik from Cairns India, Subhash Chandra from Jubilant Energy, and Rishi Anand from Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (Reliance ADAG), energy consultant Prayas Jain, and journalist Shantanu Saikia are the other accused in the case.
Vijay Mallya Loan Default (2016)
In March 2016, a consortium of banks approached the Supreme Court of India to stop Mallya from going abroad due to the pending money his companies owed them, but he had already left India.
The Enforcement Directorate estimates that in violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 Mallya allegedly transferred ₹4,000 crore (US$610 million) to tax havens. On 11 June 2016, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) reported it had “provisionally attached” ₹1,411 crore (US$220 million) rupees worth of Mallya’s Indian assets and properties against unpaid loans totalling ₹807 crore (US$120 million). On 3 September, it issued a second attachment order for a further ₹6,630 crore (US$1.0 billion) worth of Mallya’s assets, including a farmhouse, shares in United Breweries and multiple flats in Bengaluru valued at ₹565 crore (US$87 million). By December 2016, the ED has attached a total of Rs 9661 crore worth of assets of Mallya and Kingfisher in India which is one of the largest attachment of assets made by the ED in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act case till now. He is currently absconding in the UK even though he has a non-bailable warrant issued against him.
Read also: Biggest scams of India post its independence – part 4