Central Excise Commissioner in Rs. 1 Crore Bribe Case
THIS is stale news but the magnitude is baffling. A Central Excise Commissioner has the audacity to demand and accept a bribe of one Crore rupees. And the story has all the thrills - hawala, a ten rupee note for identification, money changing hands across the nation - and the all important female character.
HAD the bribe not been given, perhaps the assessee would have been stuck with a huge demand and a liberal pre-deposit and the Commissioner would claim to be a saint and hero.
Who is the real evader?
What will a Government employee do with a Crore of rupees in black money? He must have earned many such Crores in his long illustrious career which started as an appraiser. This man is about 57 years old and will almost certainly spend a few of his old age years in jail and a good ten years going round Courts. The other day a retired Chief Commissioner appeared in a CBI court and informed the Court that he had no money to hire an advocate! Even the black money stashed somewhere cannot be retrieved during trial.