Bharatiya Janta Party, Sikkim have lodged an FIR with the Sikkim Police at Sadar PS regarding the $6B MCX case that has been an ongoing burning issue not only in the state but in the nation. BJP Sikkim in a press conference today said that they have visited the state vigilance department that was on the investigation as directed by CM PS Tamang, but couldn’t find any investigation conducted so far.
Sikkim BJP state President DB Chauhan in the press conference said that Sikkim BJP had enquired with the state Vigilance Department and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the state regarding MCX “scam” but found that there was no special initiative taken by the state government. “This case needs to be investigated by the CBI,” Chauhan said. “The state vigilance only has jurisdiction inside Sikkim, and a scam of this scale that might have its roots till Kolkata and Mumbai, thus it needs to be investigated by the CBI,” he added.
Chauhan also said that the team from BJP Sikkim have already visited and clarified the situation with the vigilance department. “It is suspicious that the crime of this scale hasn’t been handed to the CBI yet,” Chauhan added. Chauhan, through the conference reminded SKM of the promise they made of bringing CBI into the state, before the election. Chauhan also reminded that the then in-opposition SKM had sat in the dharna with BJP Sikkim saying that “the state vigilance isn’t equipped to investigate the previous (SDF) government’s corruption.”
“Even after 3 years of coming into power SKM hasn’t been able to bring CBI into Sikkim, and it is a sad affair to hold the knowledge that the notification by previous government that barred the CBI to enter Sikkim, hasn’t yet been revoked,” he said. “There hasn’t been a single FIR filed in the state regarding this (MCX) case, as we’ve learned from the ED office,” said Chauhan. He added, “They (ED) know everything regarding this, but it’s a case of knowing about the sickness and still not visiting the hospital.”
Chauhan saying that the opposition have always accused them (BJP Sikkim) of having a less amount of percentage in the polls, but they have never been about the percentage but about the morality and ethics, and to speak out for the betterment of Sikkimese society, have taken up the task of lodging the FIR.
“This scam didn’t just happen in February but had begun in August 2020,” Spokesperson Raju Giri said. Giving the numbers of commodity speculators that gradually begun since September where Sikkim only held a volume of 0.5 per cent in the MCX up till February which saw a staggering 5.46 per cent from a tiny state, said “If we see this as it is, in numbers and percentages, there’s so much money laundering going on in Sikkim, and this is not just about the 46,000 Cr, there must be so much more.”
“The revenue exemption that Sikkim enjoys might seldom be enjoyed by the general Sikkimese public but this has been abused by businessmen to turn their black money into white by using Sikkimese public and Sikkimese financial institutions,” Giri added. “This is the kind of scam that is happening and the BJP is in utter opposition of it,” Giri further added.
Saying that the immense amount of Rs 46,000 Cr is might just be the tip of the iceberg, Giri said that amongst the departments not having money to buy simple supplies, there has been a tremendous loss to the state treasury because of this scam. Giri said that even a per cent of the 46,000 Cr would be so much regarding the state treasury, and that it is a “huge loss to the national and state treasury.”
Giri questioned, “Who is earning this money? The money that could be used for the development of the state, that would strengthen the finances of the state, was all lost and when this huge scale laundering was happening what were the agencies of Sikkim doing?” “In today’s date even single rupee worth transactions are transparent to the banking systems with the availability of the PAN, KYCs etc., but this kind of huge scale laundering to go unnoticed and for us (Sikkimese) to have to come to know this through a third party is really unfortunate,” Giri added.
BJP brought into light that after doing their thorough research and laying up the groundwork to open up this MCX case, have taken the first step as the FIR that they lodged and they are hopeful that a thorough investigation will be done and the culprits behind this massive scandal along with all the details will be soon revealed, which is their primary demand through this FIR. “We as citizens of this state are requesting the state government to please bring in a big agency like CBI which is equipped enough to handle and investigate this case, that can split the milk and water that has made the truth murky, hence we filed this FIR,” said Chauhan.