Delhi witnessed a politically-charged weekend as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) tried to fight off another set of allegations by sacked minister Kapil Mishra. From siphoning money to hawala transactions through shell companies, the former AAP leader levied an array of allegations regarding the party’s political funding.
However, these claims are not entirely new. Standing beside Mishra was former AAP member Neil Terrance Haslam, who had been sacked in 2015. The bomb Mishra hurled at the AAP is part of a series of allegations that Haslam has been levelling since then.
Haslam is the one Mishra kept referring to as someone who conducted investigations into the alleged donation scam.
Who is Neil Haslam?
Haslam, self-proclaimed whistleblower and anti-corruption activist, used to be a part of the party’s media cell and member of the party’s dissident faction – Aam Aadmi Volunteers Manch (AVAM) – a non-government organisation.
Sanjay Singh, after the press conference, alleged that he is an agent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who has previously worked with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
After exiting the AAP, Haslam had posted on his Facebook handle that he was a BJP member. However, he defended it by saying he was merely trying to cause “irritation” to the AAP by doing so.
He was reportedly in touch with BJP leader Shazia Ilmi. He was vocal in supporting her and the BJP’s then chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi, however, he isn’t a BJP member.
In the past, the AAP has clearly distanced itself from the AVAM saying that it does not endorse the organisation.
Haslam Has Levelled Several Allegations of Wrongdoing In the Past
Haslam has held frequent media conferences, in which he has accused the party and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of multiple instances of corruption.
In February 2015, Haslam alleged that the party accepted money through questionable means and the proof were copies of a few cheques. The AVAM said it had managed to secure undated cheques from companies, which were fictitious sources and had offered Rs 2 crore in donations to the AAP, in four stashes of Rs 50 lakh each.
Based on his claims, the BJP also had blamed the party of wrongdoing.
Again in 2016, he claimed that more than Rs 16 crore the party received as donations had not been declared. He accused the party of under-reporting donations or not reporting them entirely and of using fake PAN numbers.
He also asked for action against the Election Commission, saying that it was aware of the discrepancies in the AAP's balancesheets, but had taken no action.
The AAP has so far brushed off the allegations by claiming that Mishra and Haslam are acting at the behest of the BJP.
But till Kejriwal and Co. counter the charges levelled, document by document, the allegations will provide fuel to the ongoing political fire. Ironically enough, the AAP’s critics would like to believe that the doctor is getting a taste of his own medicine.
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