M A I N   N E W S

Badals have accounts in Cook Islands, says CM
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 28
Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, has accused the Badals of money laundering and having bank accounts in tax haven, Cook Islands, in South Pacific.

“Now, they (Vigilance sleuths) have found a nexus with an off shore bank in Cook Islands and all sorts of funny things which they are doing,” the Chief Minister said in an interview to ‘National Review’, which was launched here last night by the Vice-President, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

“It’s a bank set up by Mr Kamal Siddhu with Mr Sukhbir Badal’s money, we are told, only to launder Mr Badal’s money back,” he said.

Capt Amarinder Singh said “I did not know about the account in Cook Islands. So a lot of things that we did not know about are now coming out in the open.”

The Rajya Sabha MP and Shiromani Akali Dal general secretary, Mr Sukhbir Badal, told The Tribune, “where is this Cook Islands? The Chief Minister despite using all powers in the past two years has not been able to prove his claims of corruption against the Badals.”

Asked whether he knew Mr Kamal Siddhu, the SAD leader said “he is the same Wimpy guy. The bank account seems to be a cooked up affair of the Raja, who has not be able to bring evidence before the court. That is why we have filed a defamation suit.”

The Cook Islands are a net of 15 islands in the heart of South Pacific spread over an area the size of India with a population no bigger than a small New Zealand country town, 14,000 souls.

Capt Amarinder Singh said he was not going to “catch” the SAD President, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. “I am only producing evidence. The court will have to decide. But things such as money laundering, we will get him under FERA of that time and under FEMA now. He has virtually violated every national law.”

The Chief Minister asked “when his (Mr Parkash Singh Badal) father died he left 18 acres for five sons and he got a little land from his mother’s side. That was it. So how does he have assets worth Rs 3,000 crore? There has to be some way you have done it.”

Capt Amarinder Singh said he had split from the Badal when they went to meet UN Secretary-General Boutros Ghali in Delhi, six months before the elections. “He (Mr Badal), Mr Simranjit Singh Mann and some other went to him and gave him a memorandum saying recognise Khalistan. That is when I said I could not stay with you (Mr Badal).”

“I was surprised that the BJP patched up with a gang that was supporting a petition on Khalistan,” he added.