The Dirty Business of ‘Lobbying’

During the 13 days that the BJP government headed by AB Vajpayee was in power in 1996, it offered a “sovereign” counter-guarantee to the improper clearance of the Enron project – an extraordinary fast-tracking of a project by a government that must surely have had other things on its mind.
Which is why, one surmises, the BJP knows a thing or two when it claims that the money that Wal-Mart disclosed as expenditure on lobbying was, in fact, a “benign form of bribery” to grease the tracks to allow the FDI-in-retail provision to sail through.

Bal Thackeray with Rebecca P Mark-Jusbasche, former Vice-Chairman, Enron.

If Wal-Mart is distrusted today, the retail giant has only itself to blame. As this New York Times investigative report established, when faced with allegations of bribery in Mexico to win market dominance, Wal-Mart shut down an investigation and hushed up the matter  More egregiously, Wal-Mart has been part of an effort by large US companies and trade groups to water down the provisions of the 1977 law, which prohibits US companies from offering fees or gifts to foreign officials to advance corporate interest.

Venky Vembu: From Enron to Wal-Mart: the dirty business of ‘lobbying’

Devas the Next Enron Dhabol?

The cancellation of the Antrix deal with Devas is then unravelling not just the credibility of the Manmohan Singh govt, but exposing the web of cronyist relationships that extend worldwide.

We can perhaps remember back to the cancellation of another backroom deal around the Dhabol power project, involving a then lesser-known corporation called Enron. The snapping of the Dhabol deal soon triggered a massive domino effect that led to the collapse of the Enron energy empire and the fragile house of cards it was built upon. If Afghanistan is the historic graveyard of ambitious international imperialist adventures, then perhaps India is proving to be a similar burial ground for transnational crony capitalist schemers.

This time, instead of Bush, Cheney, Baker, et al, we have the likes of Madeleine Albright and her buddy Sandy Burglar - excuse me, Berger. This time the Atlanticist clan have to come drink deeply at the Indian watering hole. After trying to marginalize India on the nuclear and diplomatic front, they have the gall to try to profit off it. It'll be nice to see their tribe get a kick in the teeth for a change.

With the precedent of Enron in mind, could somebody recommend me a stock to short because of l'affaire Devas?





The host of the newslaxative program asks whether the opposition shouldn't be tarnished for performing its proper role as an opposition in highlighting the govt's impropriety, because then somehow it means the opposition has pushed the govt into an abrupt cancellation.

Sorry, but the role of an opposition is to draw attention to the wrongdoing by the govt, and not to shut up about it. With the Dalal Media all being corporate cronies, it's no surprise that the newslaxative program host is pushing that angle.