Author: Sheela Bhatt
Publication: Rediff News
Date: April 29, 2009
URL: http://www.rediff.com///election/2009/apr/29loksabhapolls-the-cbi-is-a-habitual-offender.htm
The revived controversy over the withdrawal
of an Interpol notice issued for Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in
the Bofors case is not the only example of how the Central Bureau of Investigation
is subservient to the dictates of the United Progressive Alliance regime.
The CBI should be dubbed a habitual offender
if one looks at the politically important cases that the agency has handled
and mishandled over the years.
If one puts in sequence what all the Bureau
has done in the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav disproportionate
assets case in the Supreme Court, it speaks volumes about the Manmohan Singh
and Sonia Gandhi-led UPA government's politics.
The sequence of events that took place before
and after the trust vote in the Lok Sabha on July 22, 2008, regarding Mulayam
Singh's disproportionate assets case leads me to believe that the CBI's actions
are anything but independent.
Attorney General Milon Banerjee's advice was
the legal handle in letting off Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors case,
while in Mulayam Singh's case the CBI took shelter behind Solicitor General
Goolam Vahanvati's advice to avoid filing the case against the SP leader.
In the Bofors case, Quattrocchi figured in
the category of people wanted by Interpol for 12 years, but now, according
to a report in The Indian Express, the CBI has asked Interpol to remove Quattrocchi's
name from the Red Corner notice list, on which he had been put at India's
behest. The decision was taken after getting Banerjee's legal opinion.
The Bofors case, rightly or wrongly, tainted
Rajiv Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi is always edgy about this because Rajiv's name
could not be cleared till his untimely death. Quattrocchi was a friend of
Rajiv and Sonia, so when the UPA government came to power the CBI's moves
vis-a-vis the Bofors case were obviously being watched.
As UPA chairperson, it will be difficult for
Sonia to escape the charge that her government helped Quattrocchi to withdraw
the tainted money that was frozen for many years.
Now, just a few weeks before the government's
tenure ends, Quattrocchi is no more on the 'wanted' list.
What the CBI did while working under the shadow
of the UPA government in Mulayam Singh's case is no less wicked and suggests
that the Congress has not learnt any lessons from the Bofors fiasco.
When the UPA government developed serious
differences with the Left parties over the India-US nuclear deal, the government
came under pressure. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was hell-bent on getting
the nuclear deal with America, but his government was dependent on the support
of the Left parties.
The political tussle over the nuclear deal
reached its climax when Dr Singh was ready to sacrifice the government, but
not the deal. So started the search to manufacture a majority in Parliament
since the Left parties had finally decided to withdraw support.
In a swift move that had little surprise element,
the Prime Minister's Office secured the Samajwadi Party's support to win the
trust motion. The government won the trust vote by 275 votes to 256 in Parliament,
but the political price paid was quite heavy.
According to Vishwanath Chaturvedi, the petitioner in the case against Mulayam
Singh, "The UPA government would have lost power after withdrawal of
support by the Left, but for the case that is pending in the court against
Mulayam Singh Yadav. Yeh case na hota to ye sarkar na bachti (The government
would not have survived if this case didn't exist)."
The PIL was filed by Chaturvedi against Yadav
in March 2005. Only in March 2007 did the Supreme Court ask the CBI to inquire
into the allegations of enormous properties held by Yadav and his family.
The apex court wanted the CBI to ascertain
whether a prima facie case of corruption should be made out against Yadav
and his family with direction to submit its reports to the Union government
which was to decide the further course of action in the matter.
By October 2007, the CBI completed its preliminary
inquiry and asked for permission to file a case against Mulayam Singh. At
that time the stalemate with the Left parties over the nuclear deal was not
expected. Soon the Congress cajoled the Samajwadi Party so that it could get
rid of the Left parties who were a hurdle in the smooth passage of the deal.
By December 6, 2008, the CBI took an unbashed
U-turn.
It filed an application in the Supreme Court,
seeking permission to withdraw its application to register a case against
Mulayam Singh. The CBI said 'representations were received from the respondents
and legal advice was sought. In view of the legal advice and direction from
the Union of India, the interlocutory application may be allowed to be withdrawn.'
Between October 2007 and December 2008 falls
July 22, 2008.
On that day, when the Manmohan Singh government
won the trust vote in the Lok Sabha, the heroes were Samajwadi Party general
secretary Amar Singh and his leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.
But inside the court on December 6, 2008,
the judges questioned the CBI on the legality of its stand.
When Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran
told the court that the CBI was acting to withdraw its application to register
a case against Mulayam Singh on legal advice from the law ministry, the division
bench consisting of Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice Cyriac Joseph remarked,
'It means that you are not acting independently. You are acting on behalf
of the central government.'
The CBI allegedly 'diluted' the case against
Yadav from around Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) to Rs 1.25 crore (Rs 12.5 million).
The CBI stand made the headlines when the bench said: 'It was quite incomprehensible
what it has done (in the probe). And (if) what it has done is true, only god
will save us.'
The judgment on the CBI's plea not to file
a case against Yadav is reserved for now. The hearing was completed in February.
Public memory is short and that helps institutions like the CBI to repeatedly
indulge in trickery to serve the vested interests of their political masters.
Chaturvedi has seen the CBI's functioning
from close quarters. He is also running around to get legal help in the case
relating to the food grain scam.
In 2005, SP MLA Yogesh Pratap Singh had written
a letter to then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, requesting
an inquiry into the distribution of food grains in Gonda district, UP. Yadav
forwarded the letter to principal secretary Prabhat Chaturvedi.
When Chaturvedi wrote to the railway ministry
he discovered that there were abnormalities in the movement of food grain
in the state. It was also found that food grain was probably being smuggled
out of UP and reaching Bangladesh.
A further inquiry by Harishanker Pande of
the state food and civil supplies department suggested that in Gonda district
alone, food grain worth Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) were being smuggled out.
This was sensational by any standards. In an informal inquiry it was found
that this scam may be widespread and could amount to several thousand crores
of rupees.
Yadav announced a CBI inquiry into the matter,
but later withdrew the order. Chaturvedi went to court against Mulayam Singh's
decision. The Lucknow high court responded to Chaturvedi's plea and said the
CBI should conduct an inquiry into the food grain scam, but the Bureau told
the court it did not have the resources to investigate such a massive fraud.
A week before July 22, 2008, when Mulayam
Singh's party saved the Manmohan Singh government, a letter he wrote, listing
a seven-point demand for the Dadri power project, was signed and forwarded
by Ashish Gupta, a director in the Prime Minister's Office, to the petroleum
ministry.
Yadav wanted the Government of India's intervention
to ensure two things:
a. The gas utilisation plan for Reliance Industries's
[ Get Quote ] Krishna Godavari Basin gas would be modified to accord highest
priority in the allocation of gas to all gas-based projects which are in an
advanced stage of development, including the Dadri project.
b. The ministry of petroleum and natural gas
be directed to approve the gas price for the Dadri power project immediately.
PMO officials Gupta merely forwarded Yadav's
demands, telling the ministry that 'action as appropriate may be taken under
intimation to this office.'
The Dadri power plant belongs to the Anil
Ambani group while the Godavari gas project belongs to elder brother Mukesh
Ambani's group. Against the backdrop of the trust vote, the Samajwadi Party
had forwarded the 'business interests' of friendly industrialists.
But natural justice came into play. After
the trust vote the arrangement between the Congress and Samwajwadi Party did
not work out. Both parties could not forge an alliance for the Lok Sabha election.
Now, Amar Singh is crying foul, saying that the Congress does not believe
in relationships.
Ottavio Quattrocchi won't have the same complaint.
