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Publication: Free Press Journal
Date:
THE CBI will beinvestigated if the BJP is
voted to power.
The BJP on Tuesday vowed to set up a commission
headed by a Supreme Court judge to investigate the alleged collusion of the
CBI with the accused in several sensitive cases.
The commission will be asked to suggest measures
for institutionalising independence of the CBI and making it accountable,
BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley declared at a Press conference, stressing
that this alone will restore the credibility of the agency.
He said it was unfortunate that the CBI, which
was created to investigate major corruption cases and maintain the purity
of Government functioning, conspired with the accused to give them a clean
chit.
Jaitley circulated copies of recent articles
by former Chief Justice of India J S Verma and noted constitutional lawyer
Fali S Nariman on how the CBI has degraded itself to become a "master
of cover-ups" by blatantly serving the political masters.
He cited case after case - against Capt Satish
Sharma, Shibu Soren, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati - in which
the CBI'sconduct was dictated by political convenience.
Jaitley did not say whether the commission
would probe cases of the CBI misconduct only between 2004 and 2009 or also
during the NDA rule, including a reprieve given to the then Home Minister
Lal Krishna Advani in the Babri Mosque demolition case.
The timing of the decision in Quattrocchi's
case clearly showed that the Congress fears that time to help its friends
is running out, as it may not get re-elected, Jaitley said.
He dubbed the favour shown to the absconding
Italian middleman on the eve of the UPA's exit as a "farewell gift to
the nation-in-law," (an oblique reference to Sonia Gandhi's Italian origin).
"The timing of the withdrawal of the
notice is an indication that the leadership of the UPA is so convinced of
the loss of power that like most despotic regimes it is obliging its friends
in the last days of the office," Jaitley said.
Asked if the future NDA Government would reopen
the Bofors case, he said the next course of action depended on the fate of
a PIL on the issue pending in the Supreme Court.
He said it was the CBI strategy to help Quattrocchi
from the very beginning.
This can be deduced from the delay in lodging
an FIR; delay in sending letter rogataries; not appealing against an erroneous
judgement of the Delhi High Court in 2004; collusion in de-freezing of Quattrocchi's
bank account in London; making statements in London to the Crown Prosecutor
that there was no case against Quattrocchi; allowing the statements to be
used against itself in the arrest case in Latin America; and finally the withdrawal
of the Red Corner notice.
In a statement, Lal Krishna Advani linked
the Quattrocchi development to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's fear that the
aggressive campaign to bring back black money stashed away in foreign banks
may backfire on the Congress.
"How can now the Congress leadership,
which has allowed the main Bofors scamster to run away with crores of bribe
money parked in a foreign bank, be trusted to bring back Indian wealth stashed
away in tax havens abroad," Advani asked.
Condemning the decision to let off Quattrocchi,
he held the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi directly responsible for "colluding
in this conspiracy to bury the truth about Bofors." It was obvious that
Dr Manmohan Singh and his Government had acted under instructions from 10
Janpath, he said.
"His silence over the past five years
on the systematic misuse of the CBI and the law ministry confirms his guilt.
It also confirms my assessment that he is a weak and unworthy Prime Minister
who has devalued his high office by making it subservient to the diktat of
10 Janpath. For this and other sins, the Congress party will be punished by
the electorate in the same way as in 1989," Advani added
