Why is PM Cares financial statements a secret? Poonam Agarwal, Dhanya Rajendran https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI98yC8JRWU Why are PM CARES Fund financial statements missing? Poonam Agarwal .. highlighting the government's refusal to disclose details, even under the RTI Act, despite significant donations made during COVID-19.
https://www.thenewsminute.com/news/why-are-financial-statements-missing-in-pm-cares-fund-reports The PM CARES fund, created on March 27, 2020, has made the receipt and payment accounts reports for the four financial years since its inception public.
These reports, however, are bare-bones statements with details of receipts (voluntary contributions, foreign contributions, interest on these amounts etc.), payments (towards oxygen plants and other COVID-19 related expenses), and the remaining balance. What is missing are detailed financial statements that tell us who donated how much to the fund, to whom payments were released, and on what dates; what’s also missing are the auditors’ observations.
YOTUBE TRANSCRIPT ( under edit )
prime minister K or PM K it's of course
not a South India only topic but it's
for all the uh nation that this matters
and joining us to talk about this is
Punam Agarwal she's a senior journalist
uh independent journalist very familiar
for most of you I'm sure because she's
done a lot of work a lot of uh very
commendable work on electoral Bonds in
fact punam's work has really exposed how
opaque uh the government of India is
welcome Punam to the show thank you da
okay thank you so and nandini uh who's
joining us in the show today nandini did
an investigation last year with uh two
colleagues from news laundry and Kora
Abraham from the news minute where we
looked at how uh every time there's a
tax rate uh the donations for the BJP
were going up and in fact I thought that
work was quite pathbreaking because when
the Electoral Bond data came the first
thing that people were looking at is how
many companies which were raided were
giving money to the party in power right
that's not just the BJP but any other
state party also in power Punam I want
to come to you first the financial
statements have been put out by pmk uh
but it's bare minimum that's a story
that you did for the news minute also
tell us about all the financial
statements till now what does it have
and what does it not have so Danel let's
keep it simple for the readers the
details of the audit report which is
being uploaded on the PM carees fund
website anybody can access that report
the problem with this audit report that
has been uploaded is the fact that it's
a two-page audit report per Financial
year has a two-page audit report and
till now what we have is the audit
report uh of 20122 and 23 that is the
last we still don't have 23 and 24
Financial year audit report point one
secondly the pages of each financial
report only gives us the two three facts
like opening balance the receipt the
donation received by pmes expenditures
made by pmes with different subheads and
the closing balance of each year the
problem the problem with it is that if
you closely look at the audit report at
the end the auditor has mentioned that
with all these Financial year audit
report attached ird financial statement
which runs into 1 to 11 page for
somewhere for 1 to 10 pages maybe 10 to
15 pages is The aage which we have seen
now the point is why these Financial uh
statements have not been uploaded that
is the problem that we have tried to
highlight through this article which is
published in the news minute now these
financial statements why are these
important because they contain the
barebones as in the details of the
observation of the auditor where did the
finance come from who donated the Don
donor's name probably the details of the
donation and where the expenses were
made because if you see in the audit
report there are some headers which
mention about that uh certain amount was
spent on oxygen cylinders on ventilators
during Co period now we know that okay
fine this uh number of money was spent
but where which hospital who got the
payments these are the details which we
need to know these are the details which
are mentioned in the financial statement
I spoke to few chared accountant they
said that they the these financial
statement make you realize whether the
audit has been done properly all the
documents whether they were shared by
the individual or the company with the
chartered account and whether there are
any errors in the balance sheet or not
so that is the reason why the financial
statement is important now we have not
seen these financial statements because
it has not been made public that is
where the problem of transparency comes
in why do we need to know these details
because donations were made by us as
well we as a citizen many people donated
during Co pmk is the main agenda behind
establishing PM cares was to deal with
pandemic now when this was established
uh the government the prime minister
everybody reached out to the people and
institutions and private companies even
the government employees they were made
to donate part of their salaries you
know so when donation has come from
different places why people do not have
the right to know secondly uh it is if
you file an RTI you cannot get any
response because they say it's a trust
now why is it a trust when it is run by
prime minister's office the trustees are
trustee is the prime minister himself
then then the reason because the the the
website says that it is registered under
the trust act fine but why you are not
taking it under the RTI act so these are
the question which have been repetedly
raised ever since it has been
established multiple articles have been
done but today what we are seeing is
that even the audit report is not
complete so the access to complete
information as far as the financial
transactions are concerned is still not
in the public domain so I think the
answers to most of this from the
government or the supporters would be
trust in Modi G why do you guys want to
know what is the audit report it must
have been used for something good right
something good for the nation but that
apart nandini this whole pmk fund has
been problematic right from the
beginning no RTI access and multiple
times the government has changed what is
the fund about they've even said that
it's not a government run fund right so
it has been problematic from the word
go correct so it's also similar to as
Punam also pointed out in her story it's
very similar to PM National Relief Fund
now that was set up in 1948 to serve
people who was suffering from partition
and then it moved on to other purposes
which is similar as uh now the PM cares
so you have two par organ you know funds
uh both are opaque now we don't know
who's putting in the money we don't know
what where it is being where it is going
right in the time where we have fought
with this government to know about
source of funding for electoral bonds
you know we had we had to find out whe
where the trust were you know you have
electoral trust which were giving
tremendous amount of money and then you
have donations and this is not small
change you know there are huge huge
amounts of money so obviously there is
an attempt every year constantly right
from 2020 when it was formed uh this PM
cares there has been an attempt because
they collected what more than 3,000
crores in the first month alone where is
this money going who is paying so
because of the uh they talk about
transparency and these are the questions
people are constantly asking they're
going to court they're you know trying
various uh uh channels to get this
government to give us some information
and the only information available now
in the public domain is what is collated
through say press releases from the
information Bureau or uh maybe a
question asked in the Parliament and
there is an answer given the I mean we
are scrambling for sources because there
is nothing said but there is transparen
we need to know where the money is going
because ultimately we don't know what is
it what is it being used for there is a
chunk they say they have received there
is a chunk they say is going out beyond
that what so if you're calling yourself
a public charitable trust and as she
pointed out that uh you know they have a
dot go. it is run out of the pmo in fact
it's the bureaucrats who run now there
are trustees like a sudam morti who
became a rajas SAA MP last year uh there
is somebody from pamal who is Mukesh
Amani's son-in-law yeah paml now he paid
uh in just before last 2019 in 2019 he
had paid 20 crores to the BJP he is on
this advisory there is certainly bound
to be a conflict of interest is that
what they trying to hide I mean we know
this present dispensation doesn't like
questions but every Act of theirs does
give rise to a lot of questions so yes
people want to know but so far they have
just blocked every step of the way so
present dispensation dispensation does
not like questions does not like
transparency and does not like data I
mean there's a uh let me explain show
that Puja did last week on what all are
the data the government doesn't want us
to get but pulam see there are two
problems here right one is when the
audit reports are so bare minimum we
don't know two things one is who is
giving the money now when we we talk
about crows and crows of money being
given okay fine it is for the it's for
covid or whatever it is but there can be
a quit proo aspect to this wherein I'm
giving 100 crores to the PM care fund
because I know that the Prime Minister
will be happy with me right and then
what do I get in return like till today
we don't actually know where Adan puts
in a lot of his money we don't know
whether it's an electoral bonds or trust
because we have not seen any evidence of
adani putting money there uh the second
part is the first part is who's putting
money the second question about pmk is
that where is this money going we only
know very bare minimum okay this much
for beds this much for ventilators Etc
but who are the companies getting this
tender how are these companies chosen
what was the kind of money given to each
did they actually uh you know uh
complete the tender did where those went
L is given none of this data is in front
of the public which have given the money
yeah Dan and secondly the third problem
is also that now that officially
pandemic has been is over covid as we
know and uh what will happen to this
money over 6,000 CR Rupees is lying in
PM cares which as for the uh closing
statement of uh the last audit report
232 uh sorry 2223 what will happen to
that money that's the third question
because the whole idea behind setting it
up was to deal with the pandemic as you
rightly said we do not know the minute
details who are the donors when did they
donate because if you remember when
electoral Bond data was out tnm did a
lot of story with news laundry and other
media organization what we pulled out
the first thing which we tried to pull
out the date of transaction when was it
donated to the political party which
political party was was there any clash
between the contract that they got from
the government was there any quit proo
so the exchange of hand or the donation
uh which was done through electoral
bonds the timing was very crucial now in
this audit report what we do not know
when did they receive the money and from
whom and at the same time we cannot
really assess who actually got the
contract who were the players involved
in getting the contract who are the uh
makers of the ventilators or the oxygen
cylinders whether those orders were
placed at the right time because if you
remember during the pandemic the second
wave especially questions were raised on
the uh timing the date of release of the
fund for the ventilators for the oxygen
cylinders for the vaccines there was a
lot of human and cry people forget
people have short-term memory they
forget these things but second wave was
like a monster people were running
around for hospitals for medical care
that was a crucial time we want to know
whether the government was on their feet
before the second wave hit or they
started acting while the second wave was
going on these are some facts which we
can get only if we have the date the
release date when were the payments made
only then we can find out whether there
was any sort of delay by the government
agencies in releasing funds or placing
orders or procuring machines what was
the reason so without that Financial
statement we are not in a position to
find out these details and I do not know
is this the reason they are not
releasing it what is the reason they are
not releasing and I seriously do not
know so the audit reports Punam if I'm
not mistaken have been released recently
for 20022 23 right yes it was released
in December mid December I mean just a
joke but we had an income tax uh search
quite a few years ago uh to all the
people who are listening to the news
minut for the first time we were uh the
income tax had come here and we
had the case going on for three years
and it in fact went on for three and a
half years because the pandemic was
going on and some of the cases were
getting prolonged but of course there
was nothing against us so they had to
shut down the case but it was a sort of
harassment we get GST notices from the
state for 100 rupees 100 rupees and here
you're talking about PM cares not giving
their financial statements for 2023 24
24 2 2023 24 even now right I mean we
have literally no idea where this money
goes but Lena since we always have to
talk about the courts this is a fund
which the court also has given a lot of
leeway for the court never opened it up
for RTI so is there any hope of Justice
from the
court well uh what happened with the
Electoral Bond story like when we
thought that once it declares it as an
unconstitutional Affair there would be
plora of cases opening up where we would
find like what has happened the quit bro
the extortion techniques happened and
why and the monetary transactions would
be would be looked into by courts but
none of that followed up right so we
talked about how this government is um
against data and against multiple other
things but one another thing that they
they do not like is continuing the Neu y
legac right so but they do that same uh
thing in a different name so the PM
Relief Fund was there they didn't like
the idea of going ahead with something
that NE had established and then they
brought up with the PM care funds but
what we now want to know is that though
this came during the covid era and there
was a centralization of uh buying
ventilators and dispersing it why didn't
the you know certain certain
accountability things everything runs on
Modi GK baros right the money that you
collect that's the word Modi GK baros H
right so so there there is a health
ministry under the government why wasn't
a special task force created to get
these ventil is to procure and why
wasn't it not announced how this was
procured and how this was distributed
but it's completely that that
information is not the anything that
will kind of build a public uh you know
trust in the way the government
functions is not done because everything
runs on Modi and and so that that's the
same way that how these funds are being
spent or whether they should be
available for auditing uh is is isn't a
big uh the opposition tried to raise
this issue in the parliament but nothing
came out of it because sort of that
didn't in in in the long run modii felt
that that wouldn't affect his uh Public
Image at all so what we want to know is
that covid is done and over and this
many funds have been uh has been
collected how do we not know that the
same things that were happening with the
Electoral Bond story where there was
quid proo happening there was extortion
techniques being employed how is it not
being employed because he's here is the
prime minister sitting there and along
with the um along with the home minister
Finance Minister and defense minister
right they are the four people people
who are managing this uh how the PM
cares
operate they they are not using it to to
whatever uh political needs that they
have in front of them so this big
question lies open in the in front of
the public and we don't have answers to
that but nandini we have other
institutions like the KAG for instance
right which can ask for an audit of this
I mean uh from whatever I know there are
several all the CM relief funds are
audited like Kerala Maharashtra Tamil
Nadu I've seen a lot of states which put
out uh very detailed audit reports and
ALS I mean they're also criticized for
using their um uh you know funds in a in
in not so good manner in fact Kerala is
currently facing a controversy but the
point is they are putting it out there
now this Modi K baros how long can this
go on and why are other institutions not
intervening in
this uh I'll just get back to the court
I I at one point I read in one case
where they were again asking for
transparency in PM cares the court said
that you know fund collected for PM
cares are entirely different funds and
there's no occasion for you to know for
them to release it so the courts also
have uh kind of stayed away there have
been futile efforts uh the thing is we
have in the absence of data especially
under this Union government there is so
much absence of data we are almost
holding on so tightly to CAG reports
because they are the only ones telling
us something about a lot of things
happening uh pun I wanted to ask because
PM cares and the national Relief Fund
have independent Auditors the same
company right sarc and Associates I
don't even know how common that is how
how often does a government hire
independent report independent Auditors
for it why is it not done by the CAG
because CAG does have the powers to seek
an audit why has pmk been kept out of uh
CAG Ambit Punam well that's something
the government needs to answer but this
is something needs to be looked into you
rightly pointed out because they can
come under the CAG I spoke to a former
CAG officer and he said and I have
written in the article that PM carees
fund can be audited under section 21 and
22 of DPC act and under this section the
CAG could demand the Auditors to look
into the uh you know finances of PM care
so definitely CAG can audit the uh pmk's
fund there's no reason it should be
handed over to a private company but
then why it is being done of course the
questions are it is from day one the
questions were raised on the audit and
uh why it is not being handed over
considering that they do not want to
reply under RTI giving it over to C
would be like inviting trouble because C
once they get into it they have to make
the entire report public so of course
they that is one reason which it seems
that they did not hand it over to CAG
but CAG could have intervened into it
it's a constitutional body let's not
forget that so CAG as a as a
constitutional body they could have very
well demanded a you know audit of this
particular pmk fund but then again the
fact the legal aspect which I'm not sure
they could have always said that it's a
trust but then again the question comes
why government agencies like pmo the
prime minister is part of it and not
just that n even you know a government
uh um websites were used to approach
different embassies different High
commissions for you know advertising PM
cares fund the uh government bodies and
institutions were used to publicize
advertise these on different platforms
that means taxpayers money was used into
it so in spite of all these things why
it is not under RTI why it is not being
audited by CG is a big question which
needs to be answered is a response to
the RTI they just say we not a Public
Authority you don't need to know I think
R is like half dead now RTI is half dead
that IR when you could that's a standard
one day reply to all RTI that's a
standard response imagine for this huge
amounts coming in we don't know the
criteria for how they decide whom they
are going to help and what they're going
to help with we don't know which states
it's going to you know that's my primary
concern being in the South we see this
constant tussle between southern states
with the Union government with when it
comes to sharing of resources whether it
is relief amounts whether it is GST
share that needs to come back whether it
is projects or infrastructure projects
in the South so where there are non-bjp
governments there is so much friction so
we don't know if there so we don't know
how much of this money has gone where
and that is that matters you have you
have states in the South where the
governors partial to BJP are actively
working against the uh local governments
so how does it not matter no so I think
putting out the funds are problematic in
many ways for Modi G one is where did he
get the money from second what did he
spend it on who are the companies who
got tender and which were the states
that he helped to the pmk right because
he's PM of the country and and now
they're going to double down on it is my
belief because electoral bonds doesn't
exist anymore and donations of course is
open anyway but now PM cares is the only
thing where we don't know people can
just divert what was going into
electoral bonds can actually be diverted
to this and we would be none the wiser
Punam is that something a danger that
you see pmk say if you read their about
section it says that it will deal with
any sort of natural Calamity or you know
any other pandemic anything related to
health now when you're saying that ever
since 2020 we have seen so many natural
calamities but the fund was never used
anywhere at least the audit report
doesn't say that so what is happening
what is the future of PM cares is
something we also should discuss about
apart from the finances because I I feel
that after so many discussions still we
have not reached anywhere nor does the
court want to say anything on this so I
have a homework for all our audience a a
few days ago we published Punam story on
the news minute saying that why are PM
financial statements so bare minimum
right 2 days after Punam publish story
now nobody was bothered about the PM Cas
audit reports for one and a half month
months right December it came till Punam
wrote her story nobody in the world was
bother bothered the second Punam story
is out at least two big National media
has put out stories today I saw a
YouTube video saying PM cares is using
money for children la la la la la music
and there are also Stories the homework
is please go find out which are those
media houses now singing praises about
the pmk fund only because Punam put that
story out there I want to end this
discussion Punam by asking you something
not not just about pmk but how
frustrating is it for you as a
journalist working in delhi now because
it's always like you're groping in the
darkness right first is electoral bonds
then it's something else it's something
else and there seems to be very less
very few people are actually wanting to
ask these questions and that also
consistently I think that's how I'm made
now that's
my nature I don't know how to put it but
I I I I'm a I'm I'm a person who is
persistent
I like uh another things maybe that
gives me u i I feel that that gives me a
kick you know something which I don't
find easily I like it and um the the
best thing is that the since you
mentioned these two articles the best is
you should see how uh nicely I'm trolled
on Twitter you know people suddenly they
get active they come up with all these
things so that's kind of also engaging
you know I I can't do anything about it
but it's fine see I feel that it's our
job as a journalist all of us to ask
questions if we do not get the answers
and work on it and put it out and these
things matter to all of us because our
fund is there so uh it is frustrating
but electoral wants took six years five
six years we got the Judgment it is crap
I'm happy all of us are happy the data
is out so it's it's always about
persistence if you ask that what pays
back not today maybe later someday PM
cares will data will also come out I'm
pretty hopeful if not in this regime
maybe the next regime whenever it comes
I don't know so H uh before I close you
know there was a story that I was
reading the other day that when Russian
dictator Stalin was there there was some
event in which he made a speech and uh
people were clapping so people wouldn't
stop clapping because who would be the
first one to stop clapping right so they
clapped and they clapped and they
clapped for 11 minutes so one
industrialist or I forgot some some
Trader was the first person to stop
clapping and everybody in the room
apparently just looked at the guy and
slowly others also stop but he was
persecuted after this so I sometimes
think that when will that internal
dissent also come right from within the
BJP itself somebody questioning as to we
cannot be so not opaque that this has to
stop at some point of time it's like
that person clapping in Stalin's room I
always whole thing about the current
regime is that the internal process so
opaque in the earlier governments
journalists who were working from Delhi
we were able to there would be some
Source leaking information there would
be some document leaking out here it
doesn't leak out because very few people
are involved in decision making very few
people get access to the certain kind of
information and that is what again the
Modi that you know what was the what was
the line that risk taking
capacity so that risk taking capacity
that we see again and again is what is
happening here so there is not much
information that will leak and uh reach
there is no much documentation of
processes there is no trust across the
Spectrum where he's even trusting his
ministers I out uh in taking certain
kind of decision so yeah that's not
going t