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'I'll give hell to the finance ministry,' says taxman Gupta

Additional Commissioner of Income Tax Vishwa Bandhu Gupta, who was suspended on June 20 for "flouting discipline", has vowed to "give hell to the finance ministry" in the days to come.

In a sensational outburst, he charged finance ministry officials of being hand-in-glove with the corrupt in the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme or VDIS.

He revealed that the day he was suspended, the income tax department raided houses of several cricketers in Bombay. He claimed that he would, if made the commissioner of income tax, "deliver the results in three months" in the match-fixing controversy.

A combative, regret-less, crusader-spirited Gupta logged into a no-holds-barred, live worldwide interactive chat on rediff.com on Wednesday evening and revealed his mind on subjects close to his heart: corruption in cricket, corruption in public life and corruption in corporate India.

Giving names and withholding some, Gupta sought to clarify his stance on l'affaire Azharuddin and tried to present his side of the story.

Asked why he, even while in government service, chose to be outspoken on the sensitive issue of cricketers allegedly pumping in slush money into the economy via VDIS, Gupta said: "One way of looking at it is that those who were doing wrong in the finance ministry would be happy with my quitting the service. I am giving them hell right now, and I will keep giving them more hell in the weeks to come, and I think this is one way of doing service to society."

Gupta, however, reiterated that at no point in time did he flout government rules and named the cricketer who had allegedly used VDIS to whiten Rs 160 million of "criminal money".

"Well, I did say that a former Indian captain had made a disclosure of Rs 160 million under the VDIS, but I could not have named him because of government rules."

Gupta also denied mentioning any names during informal conversations at the India International Centre bar, New Delhi intelligentsia's watering hole.

"The proof of all declarations made by cricketers under VDIS is with the finance ministry. Cricketers have no business to make declarations under VDIS, as they either receive cheque payments from corporate sponsors or from the BCCI or from the board of some other country....Several houses of cricketers have been raided in Bombay on June 20," he told a questioner.

Gupta said he is trying to persuade Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to modify the government's approach to the match-fixing and slush money controversy.

"Make at least search declarations public where clearly the ill-gotten wealth is evident in the declaration. Instead of the CBI asking [Ajit] Wadekar or some other cricketer whether Kapil [Dev] did say something to Manoj [Prabhakar], a better way of going about finding misdemeanours of cricketers would be to make the records of their ill-gotten wealth public. I can assure you that there is more than one fish involved and the ill-gotten wealth runs into several millions," Gupta said.

Asked if Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar are among those who declared huge sums via the VDIS, Gupta steered cleared of a potential dynamite: "I wish I could share this information with you. If you provide me a good job after being dismissed from this job, I will go public on this."

Gupta refused to elaborate on the Income Tax Department's raids on June 20 in Bombay. "I am afraid I can't take names. At least one former Indian captain's house was raided yesterday."

Gupta parried a question on whether the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has anything to do with the cricket investigations and his belligerence. "What I have read is that the VHP doesn't believe in cricket. They have demanded that the game be banned."

Gupta sought to put his role as the taxman in proper perspective. "I have put my head on the chopper. I have been responsible for giving a certain amount of direction to the investigation in the filthy cricket scam by explaining to various agencies my understanding of the betting and match-fixing industry. Pray to god that I (should) become (the) commissioner. I shall deliver you results in three months!"

The fiery government official refuted charges that he targeted cricketers because they are relatively helpless as against influential politicians. "I am not just targeting corrupt cricketers. You might have names of corrupt politicians too out soon," Gupta said.

Gupta created a stir in the chat room by disclosing that contrary to popular belief, he did not directly write to the finance minister on the misuse of the VDIS. In other words, he did not jump the protocol gun in a way that should warrant disciplinary action. "All letters to the finance minister are routed through the immediate bosses and they are entitled to give their comments on that letter. I did not say that I wrote any letter directly to the finance minister."

Gupta also hinted at joining politics. "I am willing to join politics but I will find myself all alone there."

Gupta told rediff.com's patron-readers that his activism has gotten him into administrative trouble. But, he said, he would seek appropriate remedies. "I'm taking two actions basically. One, I have applied to move the Central Administrative Tribunal for having suspended me without giving any reasons except making an observation that I have indulged in indiscipline. These are not sufficient grounds to keep an officer off duty. Two, I plan to file a writ petition in the Delhi high court explaining the extent of criminal disclosures made under the VDIS scheme with the complicity of top finance ministry officials and also how deep the infiltration of the criminal mafia is in the government set-up. I plan to request the court to hear the writ in-camera," Gupta disclosed.

"I have not been fired. All that the government has said is that I have indulged in some unexplained conduct unbecoming of a government servant. It is they who have to explain which conduct they are talking about and what this conduct is, which according to them is unbecoming of a government servant. The matter will be put before the court for their view now. So far, the government has not even come out with a single paper on what they consider unbecoming of a civil servant."

The suspended government official hinted that he has ruffled a few BJP feathers through his open style of functioning. He also came down heavily on the VHP for fiscal indiscipline. "Some of the BJP leaders have not forgiven me for doing my lawful duty ten years ago. I found a number of misdemeanours. Many BJP leaders were using funds collected in the name of trusts for personal purposes. Also, lots of diaries listing hawala money transfers from abroad to the VHP were recovered. [The RBI had banned donations from abroad for the VHP.] Also, the VHP never had any accounts and a large amount of gold jewellery and silver bricks collected from women in villages was missing from their possession.

Gupta clarified that his so-called activism vis-à-vis VDIS is not a new campaign with an eye on the cricket-related publicity. "Let me put it on record for you. I was interviewed by Doordarshan when the VDIS was being implemented. The interview was anchored by Mr Vinod Dua. I categorically stated in that interview that this scheme was being abused and those who were part of the abuse of this scheme were doing so at their own risk. There is correspondence between me and the chairman, CBDT [Central Board of Direct Taxes], which I intend to put forward before the court."

Gupta is certain that the VDIS was an ill-conceived plan. "I am asking the finance minister to make a distinction between black money and criminal money. Let me clarify that VDIS prohibits disclosure of criminal money and that is where my entire case rests."

Gupta signed off on a philosophical note. "Frankly my heart is quite heavy. But brave men don't cry, they fight it out until the b*****ds are out of business."

The Vishwa Bandhu Gupta Chat on June 21, 2000: Full transcript

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