BENGALURU: The numbers tell their own story — 18 of the 20 major cache of currency notes are from Karnataka — a fact which mirrors the ugly underbelly of a new modus operandi of corrupt netas and babus to route unaccounted cash to money lending business.

Post-demonetization, the state’s reputation has dipped to a new low, far from its exalted status as one of the most progressive states, in the wake of a series of cases of unaccounted cash seized by officers of Income Tax and police departments.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to banish the scourge of black money, dishonest politicians and babus have discovered a new method of converting stockpiles of currency notes albeit with the connivance of some bankers. A senior Congress leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described this nexus as a “mafia which fears no law”.

“This kind of transportation of pink notes cannot be possible without politicians and bureaucrats joining hands,” the leader remarked adding that while corrupt bureaucrats invest their unaccounted money on gold, foreign currency, benami property and money lending through their aides, politicians invest in real estate deals, on educational institutions, mining and money lending as well.

The leader remarked that politicians and bureaucrats have replaced corruption with a new term: service charges. These services charges have to be paid for any project to progress in a state which once took pride in the fact that the Chief Minister was brought under the purview of the Lokayukta.

Former DG&IGP, Shankar Bidari, felt that corruption has reached the zenith in the state, though cases of graft did make headlines during the last 20-25 years.

“We have reached such a stage where we need to use binoculars to spot honest officers in this corrupt system. According to me, nearly 75 per cent of the bureaucrats and 95-98 per cent of politicians are corrupt, though the degree of corruption varies,” he added.

He said cash of several crores of rupees seized recently from two government officers was only a tip of the iceberg as there were several “big fishes” in the government who enjoy political patronage. “Once any big project is cleared, a cut goes to politicians and bureaucrats before the execution,” he added.

Dr Vaman Acharya, a member of BJP/RSS think tank and former chairman of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, remarked “according to my information, of the total 4,60,000 crore of Rs 2,000 denomination notes printed in security presses, at least 50 per cent has reached wrong hands, and the rest to common man. I feel this exercise is a failure as black money has gone back as black money in the form of pink notes. The demonitisation has not yielded the results we had expected. However, it is to be seen how the Union government takes stringent steps to check this illegal trade of new notes.”