Revelations (Part 1)

20 DECEMBER 2098

Arun Sampath was sitting around at his private table, separated from the rest of the Gaur Hill bunker. Life was unusually calm. In his tiny joke of a room, the only thing the Golden Man could concern himself with was signing a couple of papers placed on his desk: office memorandums, decree requests, confidential documents…the usual nightmare. He didn’t pay heed to the irrelevant conversations or the roaring footsteps outside.
Arun was mumbling an incoherent word salad under his breath, wondering when the fallout would settle and he could simply announce his retirement. His fanciful imagination was abruptly put to an end when he saw three men in police uniform pointing their loaded pistols at him. The policeman at the centre was Narayan Sen - the Director of the Enforcement Directorate.

“Mr Arun Sampath, you are under arrest!”, Narayan shouted.
“What…me? I-I’m n-not a criminal!”, Arun stammered, his mouth betraying his mind.
“Sir, we have undeniable evidence that you misused the authority given to you as Prime Minister", Narayan proclaimed, his voice firm. "Now put your hands behind your back and do not resist arrest, the Supreme Court shall decide your fate now!"

How the mighty have fallen. No one on this planet was pure, not even the Golden Man. With a heavy sigh, the Prime Minister got up from his seat and let the police handcuff him. The metallic surface of the cuffs brushed against his blistered skin. Everything felt like a blur when the most powerful person in the country was unceremoniously shoved into an 8x10 consolidation facility, its walls plastered in concrete powder and filled with half a dozen inmates. Arun’s hands were swollen by the tight handcuffs, and he could have sworn that a settlement of maggots had colonized his wrists. In the real prison, he spent only four days. In the prison of his mind, it felt like four millennia.

24 DECEMBER 2098

The end of the world did not mean the end of traditions. Despite the Environment Ministry warning against such a move, the impeachment trials of the Prime Minister were to be held in the Supreme Court of the Republic of Winners. The courtroom felt straight out of the Pre-Revolution Era, a fact that was unsurprising given that it was simply a renovated version of the Goa State Court. In the centre sat the 13 judges, each one of them wearing a luxurious legal dress, their heads clad with a ragged scarf meant to protect them from the radiation. In the background, a small crowd of people had been allowed to enter.

"Arun Sampath, National Party Head of the Radical Socialists, incumbent Prime Minister, Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary Militia, Signatory of the currently active Enabling Act, and brother of ex-Union Regulator Rajesh Sampath: you stand trial for several charges, including but not limited to corruption, treason, embezzlement of state funds, and abusing your decree powers", Chief Justice Yohan Prakash, the oldest of the judges and the one sitting at the centre spoke, his nonchalance almost eerie.

"How do you plead, Mr Sampath?", Madhavi Barve, the Justice Minister asked afterwards.
"Not guilty, your honour", Arun bluntly replied.
"Making this difficult for the both of us? If that suits you...", Madhavi muttered to herself. "Very well, call the witnesses!"

The first witness called was Finance Minister Michal Adamski. He was surprisingly well shaped given the rationing in the bunker, wearing a stylish trench coat while holding a stack of paper in his two hands.

“Thank you, your honour”, Michal began. “I would like to present before this august court some spreadsheets which prove that the Prime Minister was embezzling state funds.”

Arun stood alone at the defendant’s stand, trying to resist a tear coming out. After violently shuffling around some pages, Michal smirked after he found the document he wanted.

“Your honour, I would like to present to you all the governmental spending spreadsheet for Q2 2096 excluding departmental spending”, Michal said as he held up a piece of paper in his hand.

“Now, allow me to present the same spreadsheet for Q3 2096”, he continued.

“Note that there is an increase of five thousand Indian Rubles in the ministerial salaries when our government didn’t even employ any new ministers”, Michal added breathlessly.
“Michal!”, the Prime Minister suddenly shouted. “Please don’t…I paid you to never reveal this to…let it be”, he tried to plead before trailing off.
“That brings me to my next point”, the Finance Minister said in a monotonous tone only a true economist could reproduce. “Unfortunately, the Prime Minister used the increase ministerial salaries to bribe me to cover up his shady dealings.”
“If you accepted the increased salary, did you not just incriminate yourself before this court?”, Chief Justice Yohan questioned.
“No, Section 78 protects witnesses from both intentional and accidental self-incrimination”, Michal hit back.
“Very well…continue with your testimony, Mr Adamski”, Chief Justice Yohan politely replied.
“Thank you, your honour”, Michal said as he bowed his head in respect. “Now, we should note that there is also an increase of 8627 Indian Rubles in welfare schemes and an increase of 1710 Indian Rubles in miscellaneous spending.”

Michal then produced a new paper sheet from his folder.
“I would now like to present to this court one last piece of evidence: the Prime Minister’s private spending spreadsheet for Q3 2096, which was dutifully submitted by Mr Sampath to the Income Tax Ministry like every other loyal citizen of the Republic.”

“Notice that the amount of money spent in Q3 aligns with the amount of additional funds allocated to welfare schemes”, Michal pointed out. “I suppose feeding the Prime Minister’s greed could count as welfare to some.”

A couple of giggles could be heard from the crowd outside.

“I see”, Chief Justice Yohan said. “But what about the additional miscellaneous funds?”
“Your honour”, Michal said after catching his breath. “I would now like to give the floor to ED DIrector Narayan Sen.”
“Very good, call the next witness”, Justice Minister Madhavi announced.

TO BE CONTINUED...