Top 10 Biggest Scam Of All Time

INDIA have witnessed significant political and financial scams/frauds for many years that have included sums of money totaling millions of dollars. And these are only the ones that have been made public, let's not even get into those which are yet to be discovered.

 

With so much cash on hand, it begs the question of whether India would still be in the developing stage today if the funds had been utilized for their intended purposes.

 

The TOP 10 largest frauds that have recently affected our nation are listed here.  

 

What more needs to be said about this swindle than has already been said? Recently, the Supreme Court declared that the spectrum fraud "puts all other frauds to shame." In the episode, the former telecom minister A Raja was forced to retire after the CAG indicted him in the 2G spectrum fraud that cost the national exchequer over 1,76,000 core. 

The issue centers on suspected anomalies in the telecom ministry's allocation of wireless radio spectrum and licenses to commercial operators, some of whom were ineligible. At exceptionally low cost (prices from 2001 in 2008), licenses were granted, and spectrum was allotted, causing a massive loss to the government's budget. 

 

Of course the con artists would have missed the much advertised and anticipated Common Wealth Games that India staged in 2010. Even before the eagerly anticipated sporting extravaganza could take place, it was doused in accusations of wrongdoing. The scandal, which involved money estimated to be worth close to 35,000 crore, involved irregularities such payments to non-existent parties, deliberate delays in contract execution, exorbitant prices, mistakes in the procurement of equipment through tenders, and money-laundering. 

 

Suresh Kalmadi, a former head of the Commonwealth Games organizing committee, was arrested and then charged by the CBI in April 2011. 

 

The name Abdul Karim Telgi is still clearly imprinted on the collective memory of India. The con man, who used his mastery of forging to create counterfeit stamp papers and shocked the entire country. The scandal, which affected 12 states, is thought to have cost more than 20,000 crores. This swindle was one of the first few to expose the reprehensible corrupt actions of both politicians and bureaucrats, with backing from several government agencies. 

 

The 14,000 crore Satyam scam represents the largest fraud to date in the Indian corporate sector. Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced former chairman, is accused of faking the books of accounts for a number of years and inflating Satyam's revenue and profit figures. After failing in his attempts to replace the "fictitious assets with genuine ones" through Maytas acquisition, he made the decision to come out and admit his guilt. 

 

The fourth-largest IT company in India saw its market capitalization plummet by a startling Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion), as investors quickly sold off their shares, driving the price of the stock down by 78 percent to Rs 39.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange in a single day. 

 

Never before has such a large segment of the Indian population enjoyed and praised a swindle. Many IPL activities have allegedly been unethical, illegitimate, and occasionally illegal. Using tax havens like Mauritius and others, which conceal investors' identities by using shell firms and fictitious names, politicians and other people are allegedly laundering illicit funds. 

 

There have been allegations of crooked games, rigged franchise bidding, bribery, tax avoidance, illegal betting, and violations of foreign investment laws. Lalit Modi, the IPL's founder and chairman, as well as a former vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, was at the center of both the expansion and the controversy (BCCI). 

 

The Bofors scandal is regarded as the epitome of corruption in India. Rajiv Gandhi, who was prime minister at the time, along with other individuals, including the influential NRI family known as the Hindujas, were charged with accepting kickbacks from Bofors AB in exchange for winning the contract to supply India's 155 mm field howitzer. 

 

A shocking report about an undercover operation by Bofors, Sweden's largest arms manufacturer, in which it is claimed that $16 million was paid to members of PM Rajiv Gandhi's Congress, was broadcast by the Swedish State Radio. 

 

By trading shares at a premium across various categories in 1992, Harshad Mehta, often known as the Big Bull, took advantage of the banking system's flaws and helped the Bombay Stock Exchange rise. Between April 1991 and May 1992, he and his associates diverted money from banks to stockbrokers totaling about Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion). Later, he was accused of 72 criminal offenses. 

 

Another scam of enormous proportions was revealed in 1995. In this multi-million dollar shoe scam, Sohin Daya of Dawood Shoes, Rafique Tejani of Metro Shoes, and Kishore Signapurkar of Milano Shoes were detained on suspicion of borrowing millions of dollars in loans on behalf of fictitious leather co-operative societies and profiting from them through various schemes. Charge sheets were also filed against representatives of numerous state banks. 

 

This fraud, also known as "Chara Ghotala," involves the notorious and enduringly well-liked Bihar politician Lalu Prasad Yadav and was valued a whopping 900 core. The con involved creating "huge herds of fictional livestock" for which feed, medications, and equipment for animal husbandry were purportedly purchased. 

 

In 1996, there was yet another well reported case of bribery. It involved $18 million in payments that top politicians in the country received through hawala brokers. Lal Krishna Advani, the opposition leader at the time, was among those charged. The general public was shocked to learn that all of the major political figures were being accused of taking bribes and that there were connections regarding payments going to militants with the Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir.

 

The Top 10 largest Indian frauds of all time are now complete. The collection estimates that more than Rs 80 lakh crore (Rs 80 trillion), or $1.80 trillion, has been lost in scams over the past 12 years alone, starting in 1992!

 

India is romantically viewed by many people outside of the country as Mahatma Gandhi's land of khadi, morality, and concern for the underprivileged. Some see India as an economic miracle and a potential superpower, while others see caste, ethnic, rich-poor, and violent differences as its only real assets. However, above all, and not far below the surface, is also a maze of unethical, illegal, and fraudulent scams that bind the majority of politicians, numerous bureaucrats, a sizable number of businesspeople, and others.