The Communist Party of India (Marxist), one of the three parties that petitioned the Supreme Court against electoral bonds, may, once all the details are out, move the top court to take action on grounds of perjury against the State Bank of India.
The party’s general secretary Sitaram Yechury said this would be in response to his claim the SBI deliberately misled and, in fact, lied to the court about its ability to make available all the required details of the electoral bond scheme as ordered by the court on February 15.
In a 25-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Yechury said the CPI(M) would also consider asking the Supreme Court to act against the Modi government on the grounds it’s the majority shareholder in SBI and whatever the bank said to the court would have happened at the government’s behest.
Yechury accused SBI of “obstructing and stalling at every step”. He also levelled charges of “obfuscation”.
Yechury said four broad results have so far been suggested by the details made public: quid pro quo, extortion, misusing shell companies to fund political parties and protection against government or agency action.
Yechury said the analysis of the emerging data should also inquire into whether corporates who bought bonds had been donating to political parties before bonds were introduced or whether bonds were the first time they did so. This would reveal a lot about their intention in buying bonds.
