Letter from the Editor-In-Chief

Dear friends,

The year 2010 was a year in which India was rocked by the revelation of numerous scams which has had a very negative impact on the image of the Congress led UPA government at New Delhi. The UPA has been seen to hide behind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s squeaky clean reputation and is betting heavily on this to ride out the storm. However, the people of India today are no longer simple minded buffoons who can be taken for a ride. Statements such as “(Information on black money lying in tax havens abroad) can’t be made public (as it will entail violations of treaty obligations)” made by the Prime Minister to justify holding back the information on Indian citizens who are holding Swiss Bank account just doesn’t fly in the India of today.

One can not speak about Swiss Bank account holders without mentioning Syed Mohammed Hassan Ali Khan better known as Hasan Ali who is worth an alleged 9 billion USD. Hasan Ali, through his lifelong dubious activities and long history of swindling people has picked up the nickname of ‘Chor Hasan’. He even had the audacity to claim descent from the Nizams of Hyderabad to dupe people when he was running a bogus antique business. Through a career in swindling which later evolved into a lucrative money laundering or ‘havala’ business, Hasan Ali was able to amass a fortune in overseas banks especially in the Swiss Banks which have, of late, picked up a very bad name in India.

The fact that such plunder can take place in India is a testament that we need more stringent rules besides a better monitoring system. However, this will all come to naught if criminals such as these walk free after being investigated. In a previous case, Hasan Ali was freed because the Enforcement Directorate could not gather enough evidence against him. However, that was a brief respite for Ali as he has once again come under the scanner of the authorities. Thankfully, chances are high that he won’t walk away with a smile this time around.

Should Hasan Ali be convicted, and it seems very likely that he will be at this point in time, this might set a precedent where actions speak louder than words. I feel that we Indians are a funny lot, with very short attention spans. We cry hoarse at the initial stages of any fiasco and then simply forget the issue altogether. Over a period of time, these issues just fade into obscurity and the people who are clearly responsible then walk off with a slap on the wrist. I feel that we as Indians need to see things through to their conclusion, we can no longer afford to lose interest halfway and thus give criminals such as Hasan Ali chances to slither their way to freedom after robbing the country blind.