NEW DELHI: Two sitting members of the Haryana Legislative Assembly have alleged that State Chief Minister Bhajan Lal had transacted illegal hawala money to the tune of Rs 20 fore through a clandestine export company and also had foreign bank ‘accounts in Switzerland.

Addressing a Press conference here on March 3rd, Haryana Vikas Party legislator Karan Singh Dalal and unattached member Chattarpal Singh alleged that Mr, Bhajan Lal was operating a bank account in Geneva bank of Switzerland, under Account No Bu60xin the name of his son Kuldeep ‘Kumar and it was locally operated by a foreign national, Jacues Turrain. “The hank account has nearly Rs.50 ‘crore at present and we challenge Mr. Bhajan Lal to refute the charges if they are false,” they astride. Both the legislators were suspended from the Haryana Assembly for the ‘entire budget session last week when they demanded a discussion on hawala payoffs to Mr, Bhajan Lal.

Mr. Chattarpal also alleged that Mr, Bhajan Lal owns a flat in New Delhi worth Rs 1,50 crore and demanded that the CBI should look into all these charges and frame a case against the Chief Minister.

He also said that the Chief Minister’s son Kuldeep Kumar, along with a police official, had gone to the Institute of Government Examining of official documents at Shimla and had paid a huge sum to get the initials, “BL” in Jain diary changed to “BC” and create confusion. The institute was examining various documents relating to the hawala scandal.

Meanwhile, Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal has denied that he had ever transacted any money through hawala or opened a foreign bank account either in his name or any other family member outside India as alleged by two State legislators. Refuting the charges made by Haryana Vikas Party legislator Karan Singh Dalal and unattached member Chattarpal Singh, the Chief Minister said the allegations were “baseless, concocted and unwarranted.” Mr. Bhajan Lal, who said he was taking legal advice on the issue. He said Mr, Chattarpal Singh should see his own record first as he was caught for allegedly misbehaving with an airhostess of Indian Airlines and subsequently dismissed from Haryana Minister Ship.

Article extracted from this publication >>  March 6, 1996