Swami Agnivesh: Kejriwal siphoned Rs.70-80 Lakhs of donations into private trust

Two days after Kiran Bedi was exposed for flying on discounted air tickets but taking full fare from sponsors, another prominent Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal had siphoned Rs.70-80 lakh belonging to India Against Corruption (IAC), headed by Anna Hazare, and diverted the money to his private trust Public Cause Research Foundation, alleges activist Swami Agnivesh who has now parted ways with the anti-graft movement. Kejriwal has demanded evidence for the charges made by Agnivesh.

"Kejriwal siphoned Rs.70-80 lakh received as public donations during Anna Hazare's 12-day fast at Ramlila Ground in August into his private trust. It is a sad situation that the movement that began to fight corruption is involved in corrupt practices," Agnivesh told.

Kejriwal did not respond to queries , but sources in Team Anna called the allegations baseless. They said audited accounts of donations to IAC will be made available wiithin the next two days.

“The money was collected during Anna Hazare’s fast at Jantar Mantar and later, at Ramlila ground. But this money was not deposited in IAC as it didn’t have any bank account,” Swami Agnivesh said on Saturday.

Agnivesh’s close aide, Manu Singh claimed, “In the last meeting of the IAC’s core committee at Ralegan Siddhi, Anna was quite upset over the issue and asked for proper maintenance of accounts. Kejriwal had promised to deposit the money with IAC in a few days. But it never happened

Asked how he calculated the figure, Agnivesh said that at Ramlila Maidan the public was stopped from donating money since Rs 50 lakh had already been collected. “They also received donations during Anna’s fast at Jantar Mantar in April.