By Nidhi Jacob
A fake list, claiming WikiLeaks has identified 24 Indian political leaders from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi as holders of black money in secret banks in the UK is viral on social media. It lists the amounts in dollars and rupees and claims that these leaders are looting the country.
This is a fake claim that has been circulating and rehashed since 2011.
According to the viral claim, after the recent defeat of former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, "the black money of Modi and his ministers is exposed. WikiLeaks has released the first list of Indians who have black money in secret banks of Britain."
Archive link.
The posts list names of BJP leaders holding positions in the current government, including current Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Member of Rajya Sabha Smriti Irani, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and others, alleging that they have black money deposited in secret banks in Britain.
Old claim resurfaces
In previous versions of the claim, the list included names such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, former Chief Minister of Karnataka B.S. Yeddyurappa, and Reliance Industries director Mukesh Ambani, along with other BJP leaders.
According to the claim, during these years, the alleged "black money" was said to have been deposited in Swiss banks. BOOM debunked this claim in October 2019.
BOOM had also debunked a similar claim in September 2019 of a fake document that had been created in 2011 under the letterhead of Swiss Bank Corporation.
It alleged that Indian politicians such as Rajiv Gandhi, Andimuthu Raja, Harshad Mehta, Sharad Pawar, P. Chidambaram, Suresh Kalmadi, Muthuvel Karunanidhi, and others had their bank accounts in Swiss Bank Corporation blacklisted.
Fact-check
BOOM looked at the website and X account of WikiLeaks and found no such list mentioning Indian politicians as black money holders in Swiss banks or banks in the UK. We also conducted an online search for such a list and did not find any credible news sources or any mention of it by WikiLeaks.
The latest report on WikiLeaks was dated August 5, 2021.
When a similar claim went viral in 2011, WikiLeaks issued a clarification on Twitter (now X), stating, "WARNING: WikiLeaks and Indian black money: The following is a FAKE image and never appeared on WikiLeaks.”
They also issued a clarification on their Facebook page in 2011 refuting a similar false claim.
