Of the 211 Rajya Sabha MPs scrutinised, 87 members (41 per cent) have pecuniary or financial interests in the form of remunerative directorship or remunerative activity or even shareholding of a controlling nature or even earnings through consultancy.
However, 124 MPs (59 per cent) have declared that they have no such financial interests. Figuring among the top three MPs, out of the 22 MPs who have remunerative directorships, are Vijay Mallya, the chairman of UB group, with a remunerative directorship value of Rs 8.81 crore a year, Rajeev Chandrashekar, the promoter of BPL mobile, with Rs 6 crore per annum, and D Kupendra Reddy with Rs 3.24 crore a year. Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, a nominated member, receives the highest amount fees/remuneration by way of professional engagements totalling Rs 72.79 crore.
The financial details of 33 MPs were not available, according to the report collated by theAssociation for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch. Seeking transparency, the organisations have written to the prime minister and Lok Sabha speaker to direct MPs to make such declarations. (UPPER HOUSE RICH LIST)
“The information declared under assets and liabilities by Lok Sabha MPs in their affidavits does not include the details of the paid consultancy, or the value of their controlling stakes in companies, etc. This can only be made known through a Register of Members' Interest,” said an ADRspokesperson.
According to information obtained under RTI, 22 MPs have declared that they have financial interests in the form of remunerative directorship and 189 (90 per cent) MPs have claimed they have no such interests. The maximum number of directorships have been declared by Vijay Mallyawith 11 remunerative directorships followed by Ashok Ganguly (nominated) and Prabhakar Kore (BJP) with three each.
Among the 23 MPs, who have declared that they have financial interest in the form of regular remunerated activity, Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi receives the highest amount from such activity worth Rs 82.33 crore followed by Vijay Mallya with Rs 2.51 crore per annum and Y S Chowdary (TDP, Andhra Pradesh) of with Rs. 1.68 crore as annual income.
Figuring among the 35 MPs, who have shareholdings of a controlling nature in companies, the maximum have been declared by Dhoot Rajkumar Nandlal (Shiv Sena) also from the Videocon group with shares from 31 companies followed by Independent MP Kakde Sanjay Dattatraya with shares from 30 companies and Congress Vijay Darda with shares from 19 companies. Dattatraya’s value of shares runs into more than Rs 100 crore, while Dhoot's share value is at Rs 6 crore and Darda’s is at Rs 4 crore.
Four MPs have assets of more than Rs 100 crore but have declared no pecuniary interests. They are Congress’ T Subbarami Reddy with assets worth Rs. 422.44 crore, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with Rs 120.06 crore, Congress’ Karan Singh with Rs. 116.43 crore and BSP chief Mayawati with Rs. 111.64 crore. Twenty-one MPs have total assets worth more than Rs 10 crore.
After Tendulkar, Lawyer K T S. Tulsi receives Rs 19.13 crore and film star Mithun Chakraborty of Trinamool Congress gets Rs. 16.93 crore a year by way of fees and remuneration from professional engagements. In all, 39 MPs have stated that they receive professional fees.
Jagdeep Chhokar, founder-member of ADR, said, “Disclosure of financial interests by the Rajya Sabha members is encouraging in the public interest. Though the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha has recommended adoption of the Register of Interest in the Lok Sabha, it has not yet been adopted. It will be good if the Lok Sabha adopts it at the earliest."
ADR has also urged that details provided in the Register of Interest should be provided to the Income Tax authorities. That apart the business and financial interests of their spouses and dependents should also be declared by MPs, along with their own business interests.
