Pharma company director donated crores of rupees to BJP, 5 days after his arrest on liquor scam, then became a government witness
Just five days after the arrest of Aurobindo Pharma director P Sarath Chandra Reddy in a money laundering case related to Delhi Excise Policy, Aurobindo Pharma on November 15, 2022 Purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 5 crore. After this, on November 21, BJP encashed this bond. This information has been revealed from the bond data issued by State Bank of India.
Reddy, who is currently working as a non-executive director of the company, was allowed by a Delhi court in June next year to become a government witness in the liquor scam case. Apart from this, the court also pardoned Reddy in this high-profile case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier claimed that Reddy was implicated in the liquor industry for allegedly colluding with business personalities and politicians linked to the excise duty case and benefiting from the liquor policy.
‘66 percent’ donation to BJP…
From April 2021 to November 2023, Aurobindo Pharma took electoral bonds worth Rs 52 crore. Election records show that 66 per cent of these bonds were given to BJP and 29 per cent were encashed by Telangana-based Bharat Rashtra Samithi and the remaining by Andhra Pradesh-based Telugu Desam Party.
Aurobindo Pharma is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies of the country. In the year 2023, its revenue will exceed Rs 24 thousand crores. Data shows that 57 per cent of the total Rs 52 crore in electoral bonds were purchased between November 2022 and November 2023. Rs 5 crore was encashed by BJP on 21 November 2022, 5 days after Reddy’s arrest in November 2022.
Atishi raised the question
On Saturday, AAP leader and minister, Atishi, in a press conference targeted the ED while referring to Sharath Reddy’s election bond payment. This meant that the agency was working at the behest of the ruling party and Kejriwal’s arrest was a politically motivated case.
The prosecution complaint filed by the ED claimed that based on the statements of several persons recorded during the investigation, AAP’s communication in-charge Vijay Nair allegedly received a total of Rs 100 crore from a group called ‘South Group’ for facilitating Had taken bribe of Rs. Reddy was earlier also implicated in association with this group. The ED claimed that this bribe was provided in advance under an agreement between the South Group and AAP leaders.
At present, Aurobindo Pharma is a global network, which works in 150 countries. 90 percent of its revenue comes from international ventures.
