New Delhi: With just four days to go for the Delhi elections, Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party is involved in yet another controversy.
BJP accused that the companies from which AAP was receiving donations were questionable and asked the Election Commission to look into the matter.
Termed as ‘Hawala at Midnight' by Shazia Ilmi who recently joined the BJP, the allegations of ‘dubious' funding were made at a press conference by a breakaway group, called the AAP Volunteers Action Manch (AVAM).
She said that last year, at midnight on April 5, AAP received 50 lakhs through four bogus companies that were fronts for money-laundering.
AAP in a media statement said that donations are listed in batches on its website once cheques are cleared by banks and therefore the malicious campaign about transactions at midnight is completely incorrect.
Kejriwal in an interview to a leading news channel said, ““We are ready for a probe by any agency of the Central government… AAP uploads its donation record through a software which uses a batch technique…All cheque donations post realisation in banks are uploaded on the website in a batch process during night hours, therefore, the malicious campaign about transactions at midnight is completely incorrect.”
“These are dirty tricks which BJP are playing against him to influence the voters and if I am found guilty, I am ready for any punishment,” he added.
"The donation was given in 2014 but the company has not earned a single rupee or done any business. Where do they get their money from," asked AVAM was launched in August last year and many of its members alleged that the AAP has made bogus entries to evade tax.
The BJP, which has enlisted top union ministers and nearly 120 MPs to coordinate its campaign in Delhi for the election, said AAP, founded on a pledge to fight corruption, stands exposed. "Kejriwal should stop lecturing other parties," said the BJP's Nirmala Sitharaman.
