“Black ko white karne ka yehi sabse best tarika hai (This is the best way to turn black money into white)”
Here, H. Chandra and R. Bhardwaj are welcoming and resourceful. On hearing the story about the politician, Bhardwaj suggests: Open an account and deposit the cash. There is no problem if you deposit cash up to Rs. 10 lakh: “Ismein cash daal denge na account mein aapke….nahin nahin Sir dus lakh par koi nahin hai (We will put in the cash in your account…No, no Sir, there is no problem for Rs.10 lakh).” The money thus deposited would be routed into investment.
The politician also needs lockers for Rs. 5–7 crore. Bhardwaj: “Locker de denge …pehle aap iska karte ho account (Will give you locker…First you have to open an account).”
Would the bank help transfer some of these crores offshore? Bhardwaj says he will get that done too but is reluctant to settle everything in the first meeting: “Haan bilkul ho jayega. Main baithta hoon aapke saath (Yes, sure it will be done. I am sitting here for you).”
After leaving Bhardwaj, the reporter continues his conversation with Chandra who turns out to be bolder. Open multiple accounts to invest Rs. 5–7 crore. Says Chandra: “Saving mein daal sakte ho koi issue nahin hai… saving account alag alag naam se khulwa lena… teen naam se khulwa denge…baaki jo paisa hai wo ten ten karke aapna aaram se (You can put in saving, no issue. Open savings account in different names…. will open in three names. The rest of the money you can easily put in [lots of] 10, 10 [lakh]).”
Chandra admits to having helped a lot of politicians turn their black money into white. He says: “To cash haan…wo samajh gaya to…black ko white karne ka yehi sabse best tarika hai…kya hai ki aap yahan par cash jama karte ho aur fir aapka jo paisa hota hai ek toh tax-free return milta hai (Cash …yes I understand that. This is the best way to turn black money into white…you deposit cash here and you get tax-free returns on it).”
Earlier, during his stint with Birla Sunlife at Ghaziabad he helped many politicians invest their black money: “Kyunki wahan maine bataya na… politician matlab aap samajh sakte hain…means kitna paisa aata hoga…toh wahan par hum log kya karte the…kyunki wo bank nahin tha …samajh sakte ho kya cheez tha…toh wahan par kya kaam karte the ki jaise account nahin khula hai to wahan pe hum bahut saare banks ke 49000–49000 ke DD banwate the (As I told you … politicians …means you can understand it how big chunks of money was coming in there …so what we people would do there … since that was not a bank … you can understand what it was … what we used to do there is get DDs worth Rs.49000 each from many banks).”
Chandra goes on to describe how the loopholes in Income Tax rules are exploited for investing in insurance: “Usmein kya hota hai ki humari jo income tax books hoti hai na…har paanch saal baad wo close ho jaati hai aur ya fir nayi book khulti hai… toh jo insurance part maine bataya na black to white karne ka …black to white karne ka sabse best tareeka hai (What happens in that is our income tax books get closed after every 5 years and a new book is opened…so insurance is the best way to turn black money into white).”
Could he suggest a way to keep Rs. 5–7 crore and transfer it overseas? Says Chandra: “Ek cheez main poochna chah raha hoon…ki locker mein aap rakh do fir (I wanted to ask you a thing … put the cash in the locker then).” Although he is not sure how to help with transferring money overseas, Chandra evinces a keen interest and promises to get back on the issue: “Ye bahar wala toh mujhe pata karna parega lekin ye internal toh maine khoob kiya hua hai to usmein toh koi dikkat hi nahin hai (I will have to find out about the offshore fund transfer but I have done many cases of this internal thing, so there is no problem).”
