A social media post accompanying an image of Elizabeth Antony, wife of former Defence Minister A.K. Antony standing alongside a painting is doing rounds on social media platforms. Sharing this picture, social media posts claim that during his tenure, the former Defence Minister A.K. Antony had bought paintings worth Rs. 28 crores from his wife Elizabeth Antony, using government money. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Using Rs. 28 crores of government money, former minister A.K. Antony bought paintings from his wife.
Fact: There are no reports about A.K. Antony purchasing paintings with government money. In the past, when reports surfaced alleging that Airports Authority of India purchased paintings from Antony’s wife, she refuted the claim and shared the details of the purchase received through RTI. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
There are no reports about A.K. Antony purchasing paintings using government money. However, in the past, there were reports alleging that debt ridden Air Authority of India, bought paintings for Rs. 28 crores from Elizabeth Antony, wife of former Minister A.K. Antony.
However, Elizabeth Antony refuted the allegations, and an associate of hers even filed an RTI seeking details of the purchase and transaction involved. Back in 2016, she posted a clarification, sharing the RTI response.
According to the response, AAI had purchased two paintings from Elizabeth Antony’s Navoothan Charitable Foundation by paying a total amount of Rs. 2.5 lakhs, to display at Arrival and Departure Lounges of Trivandrum airport. Further, in this response, AAI had clarified that it made the purchase, based on the powers delegated under AAI DOP
She even refuted the claim earlier in 2012, through a Facebook post stating that ‘the painting exhibition in question was held at India Habitat Center and had a total of 24 art exhibits. The paintings were sold for a cumulative sum of Rs. 16 lakhs.’
Further, back in 2018, speaking to BOOM, Mrs. Antony denied the claim saying ‘Air India has never bought anything from me. Not even a brochure.’
To sum it up, former minister A.K.Antony did not buy paintings using government money.
