Dubious firm prints Rs 10, says Oommen Chandy

Kochi: Former chief minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday alleged that a blacklisted British company was among those enlisted by the Union government to print 100 crore  plastic notes in the denomination of  Rs 10.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Chandy said that the British firm De La Rue was  also part of the ‘Make in India’ programme.  “There is corruption in the move to associate with the company overcoming the recommendation of the Public Undertakings Committee in 2013,” he alleged.

Producing the portions of the copy of a report of the PUC,  he alleged that the company was named in it for not meeting certain security parameters for printing 1,365 million pieces of Rs 100 notes during 1997-98. The parliamentary panel, chaired by Jagadambika Pal, had pointed to serious implications of such move and "fervently emphasised that outsourcing of printing of currency notes/minting coins should never be resorted to in the future,"  Mr Chandy said.

This threatened the security of the country and would result in proliferation of fake notes. "Now, a company, against which a Parliamentary committee had given a report in 2013, has been roped in by the government for supplying plastic notes. It is a big scam. A joint parliamentary committee should probe it,"  he said.

He also  alleged that the De La Rue was among platinum sponsors  for the Indo-British Tech meet held in New Delhi on the day when Mr Modi announced demonetisation. Mr Modi and British Prime Minister Theresa May jointly inaugurated the meet. He also pointed out that the working report of the company showed that it was not functioning in the country for the past three years and had resumed functioning in 2016.   

“There is mystery behind the stock value of the company rising by 33 percent. National media had also reported that the company was blacklisted by the Union Home Ministry,” he said.

Earlier this month, De La Rue had clarified that it was in no way associated with printing of currency in India and that it does not supply currency paper to Pakistan.

This was in response to an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) allegation that the company, which finds mention in the Panama papers leaks, has been given contract for printing new currency.

Refuting reports that it has been contracted for printing of new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes, the London-listed company in a statement had said, “De La Rue is not supplying paper for the printing of Indian currency and we are not associated with the printing of currency in India at present in any form.”