Money changes peoples’ personalities

There are different layers to a human mind and a person’s personality. All the more true in the context of accruing black money, being corrupt, embezzling funds, spouting platitudes or putting up a holier-than-thou or grandiose persona. It’s good to learn to peel the layers and see what is beneath

The father of psychology Sigmund Freud once said, “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.” The major proportion of the human mind remains submerged which keeps the inner thinking of a man away from public view. The visible persona of a person may not be the real one in the majority of the cases. A person is right when he says, “No one else knows who I am!” I do not want to be philosophical on this issue as we all know it. As I have been a taxman, I take you to the material world to relate my experience of this aspect of human nature.

We all know that we have a big problem of black money in our country. Some say that black money constitutes a parallel economy in India. We discuss and debate on this issue and make a hue and cry in the election rallies. But are we really serious about it? Yes, most of our countrymen are very poor and they do not have adequate money for their livelihood, forget black money. Yet, there is a sizeable section of our people who are rich. We have many millionaires as well as billionaires. It is this section of the people who speak more loudly on black money, but it is also amongst them that there are black sheep who contribute to the generation of black money. It is also this section of people who speak something in public view on black money but when given an opportunity to clean themselves and dump their black money, they do just exactly the opposite.

‘WASHING OFF’ SCHEME

The Finance Act 2016 had announced an ‘Income Declaration Scheme’ under which a person with black money can turn it white by paying 45 per cent tax. The scheme also guaranteed that there would be no proceedings against such persons. The tax rate in the highest tax slab is 30 per cent which meant that by paying only 15 per cent additionally, a person can buy peace and wash off his sin of having unaccounted wealth. Initial media reports indicate that for a country with such a huge amount of black money, the declaration did not yield very much when the scheme ended on September 30, although it is said to be more than what the government expected.

The scheme not fully succeeding can be explained by the hidden thinking process of our people who could have benefited from this scheme. Some potential declarers contacted me for advice. My advice was simple—buying peace of mind at a reasonable cost is a great deal. They discussed with me as to what would happen if they did not go for the scheme. I explained to them that there would be the lurking fear of an income tax search, a penalty and prosecution. They took the decision that they would cross that bridge when it came, as they felt that the additional 15 per cent tax was excessive, and also they feared that they would lose their reputation—though false—of being honest taxpayers if their names got recorded in the scheme.

Saving some money and their false image weighed more against getting mental peace guaranteed by the scheme. Speaking against black money on public platforms gives us an image of being honest taxpayers while we are actually the opposite. We explain to ourselves that the possession of black money is not a sin as all rich people have it and the fear of having it is just an occupational hazard of being rich. Our apparent is not our real self.

CORRUPTION CROWNS HYPOCRISY

Corruption is another serious evil where hypocrisy is all pervading. We speak one thing and do something else. Corruption thrives on the twin limbs of our unlawful act and our black money. Our unlawful action gives rise to a situation when corruption is born. We give our black money as bribe in big bribe cases to get out of the mess created by us due to our unlawful action. Recently, there was a news item about a television celebrity who complained to the Prime Minister about the bribe which he was asked to pay or he probably paid to the civic authority. The enquiry, again as per the news item, revealed that he had violated a legal provision and that his under-construction property was under a demolition notice. The bribe asked or probably paid, was, at the very outset, the result of the illegal construction by the celebrity. He complained to the Prime Minister to add polish to his celebrity image and to put out the message that he was also a law-abiding and honest citizen, while actually, he was hiding the true facts. This is what I mean when I say hypocrisy in the area of corruption.

Corruption always has two parties and both the parties have to agree and collude. The first party is the lawbreaker and the second party is the regulator or custodian of the law who agrees to break the oath of public office and both become partners in the crime. I have been witness to cases where it involved prominent people with apparently clean images but they fell from their high moral pedestal when the consideration became very high. The dual personality in these cases was evident. They were invited to give lectures on corruption as they were perceived as men of high integrity. The modus operandi of such personalities with lofty images is to go deep underwater and drink, as then nobody sees you drinking-somewhat like fish, as nobody sees when fish drink. Of course, there are exceptions, as there are really honest and good people on both sides. There are really honest citizens who will pay penalty if any mistake is done by them rather than pay bribe even if demanded. So also there are really honest officers who will not sell themselves, whatever be the consideration. They will stand up to their principles despite the threat perception mounted on them. In such cases, we say, there is no hypocrisy.

Another aspect of duplicity in human behaviour can be summed up by the personality of erstwhile ‘King of Good Times’ and now a fugitive, Vijay Mallya. He showed that he had all that money could buy. He showed how he could enjoy his riches. He has villas and resorts, a fleet of cars, expensive hobbies like horse racing and car racing. But subsequently events showed the dirt behind. To some extent, his riches were financed by the fraud meted on public sector banks. He showed his lavish lifestyle, but he kept in hiding how he manipulated public money for it. I cited the case of Vijay Mallya as his case is in the domain of public knowledge. During my stint in the investigation wing of the income tax department in Mumbai, I saw many similar cases like that of Vijay Mallya. I saw real people indulging in lavish life styles financed by black money earned by the embezzlement of public money and such other unlawful activities. Two shades of their personality were clearly visible. For the outside world, they were rich and powerful people who commanded respect, but when I saw them from inside, I found them too dirty to be enumerated here. In this category of people, I also found some who appeared in the public view as simple middle-class people but were actually owners of immense wealth. Their outer persona and low key living belied the fact that they were super rich, a fact they had hidden both from society and income tax department. Income tax raids against them could take place only because of credible inside information.

"Corruption always has two parties and both the parties have to agree and collude. The first party is the lawbreaker and the second party is the custodian of the law who agrees to break the oath of public office; both become partners in the crime"

ARROGANCE OF MONEY, POWER

Another aspect of the human personality that emerges is ego and arrogance which comes from the acquisition of too much money and power in a small span of time, when actually these persons are really shallow from within.

I saw this aspect many a times during the income tax raids conducted by me. In one case, I was at the search premises of a company set up by a person who had become a billionaire in a short time. That person showed no grace and respect to us and sat before us with his legs stretched out on the table—not normally seen in the course of search actions. He started telling us he was a good friend of this minister or that minister, and that he could get us suspended from services just on one phone call. He told me directly to ask my price for going away from the search premises, while at the same time sympathising with me that he would not like to take away my job as I was a poor government servant. His ego and arrogance was at its peak as he was not prepared to reconcile with the idea of a search against such a rich and powerful person like him. He subsided when I asked him to talk to his political mentors in my presence with the clear warning that I would also proceed against them for disturbing the process of the law. I also told him that he was too poor to purchase a loyal government servant and that in addition to the income tax case, a criminal charge would be initiated against him for offering to bribe. The shallow man within him got terrified and co-operated with the search proceedings thereafter.

In another case, a well-known actor blinded by his fame and celebrity status started drinking whisky when we started recording his statement. When asked to stop drinking, he said that it was his time for his drink, and small government officials could not come in the way of his right to freedom. He went a step further. He took out his revolver and started playing with it before us. We understood his tactics to obstruct the search proceedings and played tough with him. The police constables accompanying us were asked to physically remove his revolver and also his whisky. He got some sense when I explained to him that the officers at his premises represented the President of India, and that he was too weak a person to fight against the law of the country. Later, I realised that it was his superstar image that had made him vain. He was a high calibre creative person from inside which had made him a superstar.

PSEUDO-DO-GOODERS

Another shade of personality I came across in the course of income tax raids was that of the pseudo philanthropist and pseudo ideal human beings, whereas, deep inside they were average people with all the weaknesses. In one case, I found that a top celebrity had built up his image as a philanthropist as he was in the habit of announcing donations for social causes from the platform at public functions, but he never delivered on his promises. In the course of enquiry, I found several letters from charitable bodies addressed to him about his failed promises. In another case, an industrialist had advertised his good work helping the poor and needy, I found that he had given donation cheques to charitable trusts administered by his family. The donation given helped the industrialist in reducing his tax liability and at the same time, the trust would withdraw cash against the cheques received and the cash was given back to the industrialist. No charitable work was done by the family-owned trusts except bookkeeping.

I also interacted with some people who appeared very dignified and friendly but deep inside were people who could go to any level to make money. They did not have any scruples and their only objective was to make more and more money. For them, it was the end which justified the means. I could see their inner persona when they interacted with me to save tax money. For these people, no relationship was important over money.

If we have some idea, or if we can make an intelligent guess about the layers of the personality of the other person with whom we are dealing, we can successfully convince that other person with our point of view. In this connection, I would like to cite Peter Drucker who said “The most important thing in communication is hearing what is not said.” And this is possible when we have some insight about the inner self of the person with whom we are communicating.

For a good inter-personal relationship it is also important that we try to know ourselves as well and in this context, the Johari window technique can be of immense help. As per this technique, the personality of a person has four compartments. The first compartment is what the person knows and what others also know. The second is what the person knows about himself and others do not know. The third is what the person does not know about himself but others know, and the fourth is where neither he nor others know. In such a situation feedback from others can help a person in knowing himself in the context of the third compartment. I conclude by stating what Shakespeare said, “We know what we are but not what we may be.”