Journalism of Courage
Premium

Days after Aurobindo Pharma director’s arrest, BJP encashed Rs 5-crore bonds bought by firm

Aurobindo Pharma is one of the country’s top pharmaceutical companies. In 2023, it earned revenue exceeding Rs 24,000 crore. The company exports its products to over 150 countries worldwide, with approximately 90% of its revenue generated from international operations.

Aurobindo Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma purchased electoral bonds, Aurobindo Pharma director’s arrest, Sarath Chandra Reddy, BJP encashed Rs 5-crore bonds, EBS, Electoral bonds scheme, indian express newsAurobindo Pharma Director P Sarath Chandra Reddy
Advertisement

Five days after Aurobindo Pharma Director P Sarath Chandra Reddy was arrested in a money laundering case tied to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, Aurobindo Pharma purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 5 crore on November 15, 2022. On November 21, the BJP encashed this sum, bond data reveals.

The next year, in June, a Delhi court allowed Reddy, currently non-executive director at the company, to turn approver in the case. The Delhi court had also granted a pardon to Reddy in the high-profile case.

The Enforcement Directorate had earlier alleged that Reddy was engaged in the liquor business, had conspired with business owners and politicians involved in the excise case, and indulged in unfair market practices to gain undue advantage from the liquor policy.

Between April 2021 and November 2023, Aurobindo Pharma acquired electoral bonds worth Rs 52 crore. Electoral data reveals that a significant proportion — 66% — found its way to the BJP; 29% of these bonds were encashed by Telangana-based Bharat Rashtra Samithi and the remaining portion by Andhra Pradesh-based Telugu Desam Party. The data reveals that 57% of the Rs 52 crore in electoral bonds were acquired between November 2022 and November 2023. Besides the Rs 5-crore purchase in November 2022, the company bought bonds worth Rs 25 crore in November 2023. These bonds were encashed by the BJP on November 21, 2022, (as mentioned above) and November 17, 2023, respectively.

Aurobindo Pharma is one of the country’s top pharmaceutical companies. In 2023, it earned revenue exceeding Rs 24,000 crore. The company exports its products to over 150 countries worldwide, with approximately 90% of its revenue generated from international operations.

According to the ED’s prosecution complaint, AAP communication in-charge Vijay Nair, acting on behalf of the party’s leaders, “received kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore from a group, for convenience, we may call it the South Group (as termed in the statements of various persons recorded during the investigation)”. Reddy was earlier alleged to be part of this collective.

The ED claimed these kickbacks were “paid in advance to AAP leaders through Nair by South Group as a part of an agreement between South Group and AAP leaders” so it could secure “uninhibited access, undue favours, attained stakes in established wholesale businesses and multiple retail zones (over and above what was allowed in the policy)”.

Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies. With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health. His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award. Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time. Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More

Anonna Dutt is a Principal Correspondent who writes primarily on health at the Indian Express. She reports on myriad topics ranging from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the problems with pervasive infectious conditions. She reported on the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic and closely followed the vaccination programme. Her stories have resulted in the city government investing in high-end tests for the poor and acknowledging errors in their official reports. Dutt also takes a keen interest in the country’s space programme and has written on key missions like Chandrayaan 2 and 3, Aditya L1, and Gaganyaan. She was among the first batch of eleven media fellows with RBM Partnership to End Malaria. She was also selected to participate in the short-term programme on early childhood reporting at Columbia University’s Dart Centre. Dutt has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune and a PG Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She started her reporting career with the Hindustan Times. When not at work, she tries to appease the Duolingo owl with her French skills and sometimes takes to the dance floor. ... Read More

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
Edition
Install the Express App for
a better experience
Featured
Trending Topics
News
Multimedia
Follow Us
C Raja Mohan writesOn its 80th birthday, and after Trump, a question: Whose UN is it anyway?
X