The government on Wednesday announced a time-bound inquiry by a retired judge into reports of lobbying by retail giant Wal-Mart to gain entry into India. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath made the announcement in the Lok Sabha.
The reported lobbying by Wal-Mart stalled parliamentary proceedings in the past two days. Opposition parties demanded a time-bound probe by a joint parliamentary committee or a judicial panel to ascertain if bribe was paid.
Wal-Mart had, in disclosures before the U.S. Senate, said it had spent $125 million since 2008 for various lobbying activities, including for gaining access to Indian markets.
Keywords: Walmart lobbying issue, judicial probe, time-bound inquiry, Kamal Nath, Parliamentary Affairs Minister
India known for perpetuation democratic norms cannot disregard the
disclosure of spending to the tune of Rs.125 crore by Wal-Mart though
the lobbying was manually happened not in Indian soil but in U.S with
American senators. The lobbying would have lead to transfer of funds
to India but the probing of the money trail lead to remittances to the
chest of Banks in overseas. Though a judicial probe is ordered to
look into the scandalous issue, it is desirable to have a JPC probe as
well to concurrently with the judicial probe; but there exists a
predicament. Any sort of probe will entail interface with U.S
agencies, senators and officials and there is a remote chance to fish
out factual information that can identify Indian beneficiaries.
Probably a JPC will be ideal to establish a clear-cut access with U.S
senators, still there is no guarantee that India will get desired
result from the probe. It is to be noted that an enquiry is already on in respect of
violation of Foreign Exchange rules and F.I regulations in Wal-Mart’s
Indian joint venture which runs around 200 supermarkets owned and
controlled by Bharti Retail and Easyday. Bharti Walmart had
purportedly suspended many executives to facilitate investigation. In
U.S, Wal-Mart is in the midst of an internal investigation into
whether its employees routinely bribed officials in countries outside
of the United States… Mexico to China, India and Brazil, some of the
retailer’s most important international markets, to further its
interests, practices which are actually outlawed under the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act of United States.
At this time, people want to see a refurbished democracy for which it
is pertinent to strengthen anti-corruption movements for repatriation
of black money into the economy as a national asset. In fact this
perception should become a meaningful pre-requisite for passing the
anti-graft bill.
Is India trying to be a super power. Investigating something which happened in US & so many counties. India & Indian companies are also
lobbying. Now GMR in Maldives, Govt is lobbying. I dont know why
Opposition is making a storm out of tea cup. Why dont Hindu point out
the childish behavior of Opposition , especially in CBI director issue
& now in Walmart lobbying. India's is being down graded by our own behavior. Let God save our country
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