PM: Working on law to return Enforcement Directorate-attached bribe money to payees

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 27

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said he was exploring legal options to ensure that monies which the poor people of West Bengal paid in bribes and which were attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) during anti-graft raids are returned to them.

The PM’s remarks came during an eight minute phone conversation with Amrita Roy, BJP’s Lok Sabha poll candidate from Krishnanagar, pitted opposite TMC’s sitting MP Mahua Moitra.

“I am taking legal advice. The ED in Bengal has attached Rs 3,000 cr worth of amount which is bribe money poor people had to pay to get their jobs done. Someone paid to get a teachers’ job, someone paid to get a clerks’ job. Soon as our new government is sworn in, we will bring a new law if need be to make sure we return this money attached by the ED to original payees,” Modi said to Roy asking her to pass the message to the voters of Bengal.

The PM said he was already taking legal advice “to ensure that money looted from the poor goes back to them by way of whatever assets and finances the ED attaches from the corrupt.”

Vowing a corruption-free India, the PM said the fight against graft has to continue.

“These days the war is between two camps, our camp which is trying to root out corruption and the opposing camp which is consolidating to save the corrupt. Even those who earlier spoke against corruption are now embroiled in the same practices,” PM said.