7 January 2018
a key Indian opposition leader, was jailed on Saturday 6 January 2018 for three and a half years for his involvement in a 157-million-dollar corruption case dubbed “fodder scam”. The scheme that was set up to help livestock farmers. The money was meant for fodder and medicine for livestock. He is already serving a jail term in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in a previous conviction.
Yadav, a former railways minister became chief minister of the eastern state of Bihar in 1990. He resigned in 1997 due to corruption charges relating to the Fodder Scam. Following his resignation, his wife Rabri Devi ruled as the Chief Minister from 1997 to 2005.
During his jail term, he will work as a gardener in the Birsa Munda jail earning Rupees 93 per day.
in July 2017, the Enforcement Directorate and CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) lodged several criminal cases against Lalu, his wife Rabri, his son and former deputy Chief Minister, Tejashwi Yadav, in another disproportionate assets and railway tender bribery scam during Lalu’s stint as the Railway Minister. On 23 December 2017, his daughter Misa Bharti was charged by Enforcement Directorate in disproportionate assets. His son, heir apparent and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, along with two of Lalu’s daughters, are expected to be charged in a Benami Transactions (prohibition) Act case for a property worth $6.4 million acquired using ‘unaccounted money’ in New Friends Colony, Delhi.
In another dramatic turn of events, a special court in New Delhi on 20 December 2017, acquitted A. Raja, former telecoms minister, of corruption in ‘2G Spectrum’ scandal that exploded in 2008. The court also dropped charges against a slew of other bureaucrats and corporate executives implicated in the scandal.
Judge O. P. Saini said India’s federal investigators, could not prove allegations of criminality against any of the accused.
The “2G spectrum scam” came to light in 2010 when a government auditor estimated it cost the treasury as much as $39 billion in lost revenues. The scandal contributed to the heavy defeat of Congress Party at the 2014 general elections.
Subramanian Swamy, a senior BJP politician whose legal challenge of the tender process sparked the criminal investigation, said that the acquittal would be reversed.
Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha that Over 3,200 people booked by CBI for their alleged involvement in corruption were acquitted by courts. In another query, Singh said a total of 3,617 people were convicted by the courts in 1,800 corruption cases booked by the CBI. CBI faces problems in getting sufficient evidence to proof beyond reasonable doubt, but it should investigate cases thoroughly, instead of charging opposition party members to please the government in power.
