CHENNAI: Accusing the Narendra Modi government of weakening public anti-corruption institutions, senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Saturday said that the beleaguered business tycoon Vijay Mallya was “allowed” to leave the country, resulting from a fallout of anti-corruption establishments being destroyed in the country.
Addressing the gathering at an anti-corruption pledge pubic meeting here, he said that the Centre has watered down the Whistleblowers Protection Amendment bill, and has made investigating agencies seek government’s sanction before probing senior people (in the government). If compelled, the government appoints weak people to anti-corruption institutions, he added.
“Any government, which seeks to destroy anti-corruption institutions in this manner cannot be honest. And that is why we saw Vijay Mallya was allowed to leave the country, despite there being CBI and Enforcement Directorate cases against him, with him owing over Rs 9,000 crore to our PSU banks,” he said.
Observing that corruption creates a mafia of politicians, bureaucrats and corporates, he said that citizens must come forward to fight corruption by joining forums to end the menace. We should also have proportional representative systems, wherein parties that get even two per cent of votes will have some representation, he added.