Telangana: Leaders seldom have piles of cash on hand

Hyderabad: The big question looming large on everyone’s mind is what will now happen to politicians, contractors, film personalities and officials who are supposed to be in possession of crores of unaccounted money. However, an independent enquiry has revealed that these people as a matter of policy do not keep large amounts of “liquid cash” running into several hundred crores.

Instead, they divert their “ill-gotten or unaccounted for” money into various financial activities, mostly in real estate. They also invest in shares of various corporates within and outside the country. It is an open secret that many politicians have purchased swanky apartments in Dubai.

Whenever they receive huge volumes of cash, they immediately buy land, houses in “benami” names, or gold and jewellery. Politicians, on a day-to-day basis, divert significant amounts to their “followers” and for their political activities.

“Liquid cash with politicos will be limited; they divert the money for investments. But in spite of these ‘precautionary measures’, sometimes huge stocks of currency pile up and only in such instances will the abolition of high-value notes have an impact on them. To avoid this, they may distribute the money among their close relatives and followers to deposit in their bank accounts. The rest of the money will become useless,” said a source.

Contractors, meanwhile, divert cash to various companies. “Contractors will always have a number of companies. They circulate the money ‘generated’ from various sources among their companies and adjust the books so that nothing is seen as out of ordinary,” said a source. Some big politicians also invest in companies floated by their relatives. “We convert black into white whenever we need the money, that is not a problem at all,” a source said.

According to sources in the film industry, big actors, financiers, and producers – with whom large-scale unaccounted money is available even after investing in land – keep cash in gunny bags at unknown places.

“In such cases, the money will be worthless due to the abolition of high-value notes,” said the source. It is alleged (often by their opponents) that politicians keep huge amounts of cash. Like the one about a politician stocking Rs 1 lakh-crore in Bengaluru or in an estate owned by him. Another allegation was that a young leader looking after his party affairs had already stocked enough cash in each Assembly constituency headquarters for the 2019 elections for distributing to candidates. But the source said, “It is all for public consumption, .”