A string operation carried out by portal Cobrapost has shown that 11 MPs from the Congress, BJP, JD(U) , AIADMK and BSP were ready to write letters of recommendations and lobby for a fictitious foreign oil company for fees ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs50 lakh.
The MPs seen in the sting videos are K Sugumar and C Rajendran (AIADMK), lalu Bhai Patel, Ravindra Kumar Pandey and Hari Manjhi (BJP), Vishwa Mohan Kumar, Maheshwar Hazari and Bhudeo Chaudhary (JD-U), Khiladi lal Bairwa and Vikrambhai Arjanbhai (Congress) and Kaiser Jahan (BSP). Most of them are from rural background and belong to SC/ST category.
As in many such "operations" in the past, the sting did not reveal any actual "crime' but offered allurement to MPs to trap them. A fierce debate is already going on over the "ethics' of such string operation where allurement is offered to trap unsuspecting victims.
In the sting, codenamed 'Operation Falcon Claw', the MPs were ready to help Mediterranean Oil Inc. of Queensland, Australia bag rights of oil exploration and rigging in the northeast.
At a press conference here, Aniruddha Bahal, Editor of the portal Cobrapost, said during the sting operation conducted over a period of a year six MPs even issued letters of recommendation.
Bahal claimed that the undercover operation "exposed" the MPs of not even caring to check the antecedents of the fake foreign oil company. The reporter approached the MPs using a fake identity of a consultant of the company.
Six of the MPs gave the portal letters of recommendation in favour of the fake company for a sum ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000, Bahal alleged.
"Others won't settle for less than Rs 5 lakh for a single letter and in one case, an MP quoted a ridiculously high price for a single letter at Rs 50 lakh. There was no point giving them so much money," he said.
Parliament had expelled 11 MPs after a similar undercover operation by a news portal exposed lawmakers taking money for asking questions seven years ago.