Sinha, the Flexible?

Flex Industries, which is under investigation for paying bribes to senior Government officials, is said to have printed and supplied poll ma...

Flex Industries, which is under investigation for paying bribes to senior Government officials, is said to have printed and supplied poll material to Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha for the 1999 Lok Sabha election from Hazaribagh in Bihar, now in Jharkhand.

This is one part of the ongoing scandal which the CBI has glossed over. This despite the fact that ex-Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar had to resign as Jharkhand Governor when The Indian Express first reported on December 7 last year that Flex Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Chaturvedi allegedly paid for parties hosted at Kumar8217;s residence. The amounts involved then added up to about Rs 1.34 lakh.

Railway records showing supplies to Koderma from Flex

In this case, while it8217;s unclear who paid for the material8212;Sinha is said to have obtained bills from Flex for submission to the Election Commission8212; what is clear is the potential conflict of interest in the current investigation.

At no point, CBI sources confirm, did the Finance Ministry let it be known that there was a prior association between Chaturvedi and Sinha.

Even though the case involved Chaturvedi being caught red-handed paying Rs 5 lakh to Delhi8217;s Excise Commissioner Someshwar Mishra whose office comes under the Finance Ministry.

Mishra has since been suspended, Chaturvedi is out on bail and Sinha has been regularly kept updated on key developments in this case.

Flex8217;s supplies for the polls included plastic-coated calenders, banners, posters and handbills, weighing hundreds of kilos.

Record room at the Old Delhi station: here lies evidence of material sent to Koderma, nearest stop to Hazaribagh, Sinha8217;s constituency

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Sources said that while one consignment of the material was carried by air on August 20, 1999, by Sinha himself then Finance Minister in the caretaker Government to Ranchi, the rest of the material was sent in at least five consignments authorised by officials of Flex Industries by train to Koderma, the station nearest Hazaribagh. A political aide of Sinha went with the parcels to Koderma.

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Evidence that Chaturvedi acted as Sinha8217;s supplier for the elections lies in the railway record rooms at the Old Delhi and New Delhi Railway Stations from where the election material was sent.

The Indian Express checked the records at the New Delhi station and amid piles of dusty despatch receipts, found the one numbered 340711 dated August 20, 1999 showing a despatch of 272 kg of material including banners, posters and other election material booked by a personal assistant to the Finance Minister.

raquo; Dinesh Mathur, Flex chief Ashok Chaturvedi8217;s bail lawyer: 8216;8216;If at all, it is the public servant who will have to explain why he took favours like accepting election material from a businessman. And if an offence is made out, the supplier can be said to have abetted.8217;8217;
raquo; CBI Spokesman, S M Khan: 8216;8216;The chargesheet in the Flex case may be filed in a month. If fresh evidence showing the political links of Ashok Chaturvedi comes up, that can also be looked into. The CBI8217;s examining his connections with ex-Cabinet Secy Prabhat Kumar and any other nexus which may emerge with politicians can be examined.8217;8217;
raquo; Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha: Away on an Asian Development Bank meeting in Shanghai. His personal secretary, allegedly involved in Flex8217;s supply of poll material declined to comment. A detailed fax was sent to the Minister8217;s office. No response received so far.
raquo; A N Jha, Dy Election Commissioner: 8216;8216;If the Minister feels there8217;s a conflict of interest between him and the businessman who helped his election, morality demands he admit this fact. Or say he will not take any decision concerning the firm.8221;

And in the record room at the Old Delhi Station, was found another despatch receipt No 291014 dated September 6, 1999. This consignment had 16 packages of election material weighing 358 kg.

In the column under 8216;Sender8217;s Name8217; is that of Flex Industries with its NOIDA address. The Hazaribagh election was held on September 18, shortly after the material was sent.

It is learnt that Chaturvedi visited Sinha at his official residence on New Delhi8217;s 6, Kushak Road in the first week of August to finalize the details of printing and delivery of election material.

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The first consignment reached Kushak Road around August 20 which was reportedly taken by Sinha by air to Ranchi.

The rest of the material, sources said, was first re-packed at Sinha8217;s house and then taken to the railway stations.

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More