Corruption Watch

04-30-2008, 03:42 AM

QUOTEWho gave the Cabinet post to Baalu? Manmohan Singh or Karunanidhi? What's preventing Manmohan from stripping the cabinet protfolio from Baalu?At the end it is PM responsibility. But he is spineless, lacks leadership.

04-30-2008, 12:08 PM

Advani dubs UPA as the most corrupt in country's history

05-01-2008, 02:29 AM

QUOTESon conducts pvt business on Prez's foreign tour
Pioneer.com
Liz Mathew | New Delhi
President Pratibha Patil's son Rajendra Singh Shekhawat, who accompanied her on her trip to Latin America in April, went away briefly to the US to attend to personal business, informed sources said.Â

Shekhawat, according to people in the know, flew to Miami in the wee hours of April 17.

According to informed sources, many in Mexico, the second halt in the President's three-nation tour, were taken by surprise by Shekhawat's trip to the US, where he is believed to have discussed a business tieup for his family-run educational institutions.

Queried by IANS, Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson Archana Datta said: "There was a long pending invitation from the University of Florida for academic purpose. Since Shekhawat was in Mexico, he took the opportunity to visit the university. He bore the expenses for his visit."

The President's family runs a chain of schools and colleges in their home district of Jalgaon in Maharashtra and in Mumbai.

Shekhawat's absence was noticed at the banquet hosted by Mexican President Felipe Calderon at Castilo de Chapultepec. According to those who attended the banquet, a seat was reserved for Shekhawat.

India's External Affairs Ministry officials admitted that his visit to the US was a breach of protocol because the President's son was considered a VVIP in the delegation.

According to diplomatic sources, the Indian missions in the US were roped in for his trip. The Embassy in Washington sent an officer to Miami to receive the VVIP.

Shekhawat spent only a day in Miami where he held his discussions at his hotel.

Shekhawat was also missing from the President's team when it visited the Teotihuacan Pyramids in Mexico on April 18.

But he was present at the lunch hosted by Jalisco Governor Emilio Gonzalez Marquez at his palace in Guadalajara on April 19.

Besides her son, the President was accompanied by her husband Devisingh Ram Singh Shekhawat.

President Patil visited Brazil, Mexico and Chile from April 12 to 23. It was her first foreign trip since she became the head of state last year. 
This is new India.

05-02-2008, 03:43 AM

QUOTEJunk from Britain 
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Why did India buy second-rate Hawks?
Three months since they were inducted into the Indian Air Force, the British-made Hawk fighter-trainers have been grounded for a second time. The most recent episode comes after a Hawk plane crashed in Bidar, Karnataka. Investigations have suggested that some of the components of the plane were old and rusted. The Hawks have also been reported for technical snags and shortage of spare parts. While only 10 of the 66 planes India has agreed to buy have arrived, IAF circles are already wondering if they have been led into a Rs 8,000-crore dud deal. It is astonishing that the British company that won the contract after hectic lobbying has supplied faulty planes. It is even more astonishing that the technical checks that the IAF, the Defence Ministry and other Government agencies were required to make cleared these shoddy and accident-prone planes and actually permitted Indian pilots to fly them. It is not surprising that cynical Indians should smell a scandal. Indeed, Congress Governments and British defence and aviation deals have a dubious past. India's first defence swindle was the Jeep purchase of 1948. The country paid for first-rate vehicles for use by the Army in the war against Pakistan. What eventually arrived were World War II discards, some of which could not be driven out of the port because there was no engine inside. If the Jeep scandal was India's first introduction to the infamous and Mephistophelean VK Krishna Menon, the Westland helicopter deal anticipated the Bofors mess that eventually formed the most salient memory of the Rajiv Gandhi Government. In 1986, the then Prime Minister forced the public sector Pawan Hans Corporation to buy 21 helicopters from a British company that was shutting down. A series of technical faults and crashes followed. The helicopters were eventually discarded as junk and lined up at an unused airport in Mumbai. Needless to say, kickbacks and sweetheart transactions were alleged in both the Jeep and Westland affairs. Is the Hawk following in their footsteps?

There is reason to be suspicious and cautious. This is an election year and one in which the UPA Government is promising to commit to some of the largest defence purchases in Indian history. Over the past four years, wherever else it may have surrendered to its allies, the Congress has kept the Defence portfolio with itself and packed the upper echelons of the Ministry with civil servants of decidedly partisan credentials. After the Hawk failures, it is impossible to trust the defence establishment and ignore the discomforting feeling that political rather than professional considerations played their part. Mr Manmohan Singh has been seen as a weak and ineffective Prime Minister but even his critics have not questioned his honesty. Given the contested and contentious nature and history of arms deals in Indian politics, it would be best for him, and for his personal legacy, to institute a thorough and transparent inquiry into the Hawk embarrassment. British authorities, commercial and governmental, must be forced to collaborate, if necessary under threat of cancellation of the rest of the contract. Accounts of their Indian interlocutors, where these don't impinge upon national security, should be made public. The Prime Minister must realise that when it comes to defence deals, Congress Governments are guilty until proven otherwise.

Election money is coming from these deal. Before losing power they want to fill their foreign bank account. Good going.

05-19-2008, 08:59 PM

A must read article on The Wealth of Sharad Pawar

Capt M Kumar · (This post was last modified: 05-21-2008, 09:42 AM by Capt M Kumar.)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Germany...how/3057422.cms
<!--emo& Sad

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /> [SIZE=7][COLOR=red]Several countries including the US, the UK, Canada, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Ireland have already used the opportunity to zero in on their citizens who have evaded taxes and smuggled their wealth to the principality, the sixth-smallest country in the world. But Transparency International says India has maintained 'a stoic silence over the issue and has not approached the German government for this data'.

Expressing concern over the Indian government's apparently lackadaisical attitude in getting after offenders who have cheated the tax authorities of millions of dollars is quite surprising and the Indian chapter of TI - an organization campaigning to reduce corruption - has urged the government to take all necessary steps to seek the data.

05-21-2008, 07:47 PM

Bangalore: The land grab capital of India
QUOTEBangalore has been a victim of largescale land grabs. And a committee of MLAs revealed this alarming state through the findings of a hard-hitting report.

These are the revelations that shocked Karnataka.

The report said that in the past eight years, land worth over Rs 27,000 crore has been grabbed in the state.

06-01-2008, 06:12 PM

The invisible crusaders 

Hyderabad, May 31: There is something serious happening in the state administration, the bureaucracy in particular. Five young Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers of the state cadre have teamed up to fight corruption within the administration. For now, nobody knows their identity or their modus operandi.

They work silently in their zeal to correct the system to the maximum possible extent. Their mentor: a senior bureaucrat known for his integrity. He advises them and provides all inputs.

Informally, the group call itself "The Invisible Crusaders." Explaining the action plan to this correspondent, a crusader said: "Each officer first identifies a sincere and honest employees under him and with their help identifies the corrupt ones.

Thus begins the fight. Rather than taking disciplinary action straightaway, the officer will initiate steps that will clearly let the corrupt ones know they are under the scanner. At an opportune time, they will be hit. Then the corrupt employee will be doomed for life. Our action will be drastic, within the legal framework."

The idea of forging the group germinated when one of the officers got a taste of "red tapism." Said the young officer: "Before joining the service, I always wondered what âred tapeâ was. Once in service, I slowly started understanding it.

 Would anyone believe that one department employee has to grease the hands of his counterpart in another department for getting an official file cleared? As an IAS officer, I am witness to such blatant corruption in the administrative ranks. I discussed this with some of my fellow bureaucrats and thus hit upon the idea of forming a group that fights corruption in the ranks."

Bureaucrats normally know the antecedents of their fellow "babus" and it is not difficult to identify the black sheep. The "Invisible Crusaders" aim at collecting evidence in order to nail the corrupt officers. "There are many officers with utmost integrity just as there are the notoriously corrupt ones in the IAS. These days, some officers take slush money even in the early years of their career, a highly worrying trend. Such elements are further degenerating the bureaucracy. To the extent possible, we shall fight such elements as well," a key member of the group said.

For now, the "Invisible Crusaders" will have just five members but more may be taken into the fold in the days to come. "Our wavelengths should match. Ideally, we want to restrict the maximum members to 10. Some upright senior officers will always be there to guide us from outside," the member added. This notebook will have more inputs on the "Invisible Crusaders." Watch out.

**shamu** · 06-02-2008, 04:28 AM

QUOTE(k.ram @ Jun 1 2008, 06:12 PM)The invisible crusaders 

Why do they call themselves crusaders?
Crusaders are those christians who fought against muslims for a long time and lost at the end.

06-16-2008, 07:02 PM

How a poor CPM worker built a Rs. 2 crore bungalow

QUOTECHENNAI: The axing of CPM Legislature Party leader C Govindasamy for his 'corrupt activities' has sparked doubts among party cadre on whether the party's ideology reaches the grass roots.

Shocked by Govindasamy's fall after his rise from humble beginnings, the cadre feels there is a need for a reorientation course on party's ideology for all functionaries.

06-16-2008, 09:39 PM

Ailing sugar co-op banks on its margdarshak: Shivraj Patilâs son
QUOTEThe Union Environment Ministry flouted its own guidelines to clear the expansion of a Rs 149-crore distillery that has, on its board, Shailesh Patil, the son of Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, and his wife Archana Patil. A floundering sugar cooperative in Maharashtra waits for similar luck.

How does Congress view Patil Jrâs business in the context of Patil Srâs performance?
QUOTEPatil has stood out because not only has there been a singular lack of progress under his watch in any of the pressing internal security problems but there has also been a general decay in morale among the security brass, a problem that can be traced to the political spin that has been put on certain aspects of guarding internal security. Now, of course, Patil Juniorâs entrepreneurial ambitions could have flourished under a rule-bending state even if Patil Senior had been a home minister the mere mention of whose name produced a frisson of terror among terrorists. Brilliant administrators are not necessarily morally vigilant ones. But it is the rule of politics and indeed of any serious pursuit that while being good at your job is no excuse for unbecoming conduct, being not-so-good at your job adds to the burden when under scrutiny.

06-21-2008, 03:36 AM

Vigilance Bureau files DA case against Amarinder
QUOTEPunjab Vigilance Bureau on Friday filed a case against former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his son Raninder Singh in a case relating on the charge of amassing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income and summoned them for questioning on July six
QUOTEThe PVB in its FIR registered at a police station in Patiala said the declared income of Amarinder and Raninder in 2001-02 was Rs 4.81 lakh and Rs 4.96 lakh respectively and the combined income of the father and son during for five years from 2002, when he became the Chief Minister, was about Rs one crore.

But in the five years that Amarinder was Chief Minister over Rs six crore was deposited in 20 bank accounts held in the name of Amarinder, his Lok Sabha MP wife Preneet Kaur, their son Raninder and his wife Rishma Kaur. The deposits in these banks exceed their combined and total declared income by over Rs 4.50 crore, the Bureau claimed.

The Bureau charged Amarinder with spending money to procure property, including land, at various places in Punjab (including Patiala and Kharar), at Greater Noida, Goa, Faridabad and Gurgaon besides abroad, including London, the USA, Canada, Sweden and Dubai.

The former Chief Minister has also been charged with securing shares in projects started at Gurgaon (a mall), Bahadurgarh (vehicle agency) and Baddi (a factory) and sending money abroad allegedly through illegal means and procuring vehicles.

06-24-2008, 05:10 PM

Email from a good source.
QUOTEDear Friends: I think corruption has become a hydra headed monster that is eating up the
vitals of India. It appears it has entered even the portals of once hallowed
academic institutions, even the judiciary -- with a vengeance

A highly qualified university teacher in India whose published work is well
regarded by his peers, tells me that he is unable to move up the ladder
because of corruption:.

The following is his response to my question on why RTI cannot be used to
fight corruption:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE
"As regards the University, you have crooks as "professors." None of the
characters have a decent published work--yet by intrigue and manipulation
bribery and all unethical means the position of the Professor is filled up.

"The price tag (unofficial transactions) for an Asst Professor is
Rs,800,000/- and a full Professor is at least twice the amount. If I have
that money, I would have started a small business and would have earned
more.

"Corruption in the University or elsewhere is not documented. Graft is
transacted not in the official chambers but in 5-star hotels with other
perks of wine and women. So where is the evidence to use RTI?

"Women candidates have a different treatment "awarded" to them besides
graft. There are numerous persons who are silent sufferers in India since
they have no recourse for employment. PhDs and the like are not the
criteria.

"Bribes are undocumented.You want a favorable court verdict--there are
agents who arrange with some of the notorious "Hon'ble Justices" who prefer
select hotels meeting on dinner, wine and then escorts follow.

"Unless this is videographed nothing is going to be done.

"Where is justice then?

"R, in matters of corruption and sleaze and the covert means of its
execution, India is THE SUPERPOWER."
-R
</div>

06-30-2008, 02:44 AM

QUOTESuitcase culture flourishes 
Pioneer.com
Joginder Singh
Making hey while the sun shines is an old saying. But in the present climate of raging corruption in the country, not only the authorities make hey (or money), but are also not hesitant to distribute a part of it to stay out of trouble.

Assam's Education Minister Ripon Bora was arrested, along with his two associates, by the Central Bureau of Investigation in June 2008 in Delhi while allegedly paying Rs 10 lakh as bribe to an officer of the investigating agency. Mr Bora, a senior Minister, was a suspect in a murder case that was being probed by the CBI on the direction of the Gauhati High Court. The case pertained to the killing of tribal leader Daniel Topno, a candidate during the 1996 Assembly election, on September 27, 2000. Mr Bora was his rival.

"The Minister had approached the officer probing the case through a middleman for negotiating the outcome of the investigation," the CBI said. The officer to be bribed made a complaint and so a trap was laid.

Before any legal action is taken, it is the standard requirement in the CBI to get a formal complaint from the affected party or parties, even if he or she happens to be a CBI officer. This is the only way to set the law in motion.

There can be two types of corruption. One in which the bribe is demanded by a public servant; and, the other where bribe is offered to a public servant. In the case of a complaint where bribe is demanded, the complainant is asked to get the currency notes treated with a special powder and the serial number of notes is written down before the bribe is paid. Witnesses are procured in advance and they are so positioned when the transaction takes place that they can see the money being handed over and overhear their conversation between the complainant and the bribe-taker. After the transaction is over, the bribe-taker is arrested.

Where a bribe is being offered to a public servant and he has informed the CBI, even then the witnesses are called to witness the demand and passing of the money, so that when the case goes to the court, they can depose what they have seen. To maintain its credibility, the CBI gets witnesses from those Government departments that do not even have a remote connection with the people involved in corruption cases. In fact, the same witnesses are never used in other cases by the CBI. The advantage of this approach is that nobody can say that the same stock witnesses are being produced in all cases of the CBI.

Unfortunately, corruption in our country is going up with each passing day. As per the latest report of 'Transparency International', India is the 72nd most corrupt country in integrity and honesty in public administration in the world. It scores 35 marks out of 100. Under our laws pertaining to corruption, only a public servant can be guilty of corruption. Incidentally, MPs, MLAs and Ministers are also public servant and the same laws are applied to them as to the Government employees.

Corruption in public life has become so endemic that people have become cynical whether the Government is serious about eliminating and giving good governance to the people. There have been allegations against Orissa's Education Minister (denied by him) that the State Board of Secondary Education officials manipulated his son's marksheet. It is said that his son was allegedly given extra 124 marks in the last high school certificate examinations.

Another case, which was widely reported, is that of Union Transport and Shipping Minister TR Baalu, who has been charged of seeking favours for his family. Yet another case, which came up in Jharkhand High Court, is the alleged transfer of a Central Coalfields Limited to the north-eastern coalfields at the instance of a Union Minister, Mr Subodh Kant Sahay, who has been issued a notice by the High Court. The transfer has since then been stayed.

A detailed implementation review (DIR) report of the World Bank into the $ 76.4 million Orissa Health System Development Project (OHSDP), launched in 1998 and completed in 2006, said that the Health Minister and some officials had taken Rs 500,000 in bribes to give undue favours to a particular firm. The Minister has since denied the allegations. The State Government had earlier formed a three-member panel headed by the Chief Secretary to probe the corruption charges.

The system has already been ruined, with no will being shown by the Government to tackle the corrupt and dishonest. Recently, the Group of Ministers has rejected a proposal to do away with the need for Government approval to attach the property of tainted public servants to control corruption. On the contrary, it has decided that the investigating officer must take the prior Government sanction even to move the special judge for attachment of tainted property. The decision only represents one of many attempts of the Government to protect the corrupt and dishonest.

As per the CVC Act, no investigation or inquiry can be started against an officer of the level of Joint Secretary or above without the Government sanction. This was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1997, but was again introduced as a law. Even after such a sanction is received, which itself is doubtful, then sanction is needed to register a regular case. Again for prosecution in the court of law, formal Government sanction is legally binding. Even after this is done, the Government can always direct the investigating agency to withdraw the case from the court, as was done in the case of Captain Satish Sharma.

The people's exasperation on corruption has been best expressed by the Supreme Court: "Everyone wants to loot this country. The only deterrent is to hang a few corrupt persons from the lamp-post... The law does not permit us to do it but otherwise we would prefer to hang people like you from the lamp-post."

It is time to remind our leaders, what Theodore Roosevelt once observed: "We cannot afford to differ on the question of honesty if we expect our republic permanently to endure. Honesty is not so much a credit as an absolute prerequisite to efficient service to the public. Unless a man is honest, we have no right to keep him in public life; it matters not how brilliant his capacity."

Capt M Kumar · 07-13-2008, 07:00 AM

<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /> Between 1999 and 2005, Venkataraman steered more than $13 million in contracts and purchase orders to fictitious companies with the help of co-accused Rosa Abreu, 42, Director of Records at the Office of the Chief Medical Officer (OCME).

The scam had started before the World Trade Tower attacks in 2001 but intensified after OCME developed an acute need for computer services following the September 11 tragedy, when the department was assigned the task of identifying victims through the forensic analysis of body parts and other evidence collected at Ground Zero.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indians...how/3226681.cms

07-19-2008, 09:31 AM

âSwiss bankâ accounts bleeding the country
by B.R. Lall

Transparency International India recently exposed how the Indian Government is not seeking information from the German Government about billions of dollars of
un-accounted money that belongs to the people of India, lying in Liechtenstein,
a small German county.

A number of other countries like the USA, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Canada,
Italy, the UK and Ireland, whose nationals are also included in the same list,
are seriously collecting information about their citizens.

As per Transparency International, if asked, the German Government has offered
to provide information on accounts to various nations the world over including
India, free of cost, but India refuses to take the offer.

I had foreseen this attitude of the government, pointing out clearly in my book
Who Owns CBI: The Naked Truth that, âit will not be easy to take any step in
this direction, as the first obstacle will come from Indian elites, who are
holding such accounts/assets abroad. They will oppose any such move tooth and nail. But no meaningful fight against corruption, black money and plethora of
economic offences can be really successful without such radical measures.â

I had attempted the analysis in the context of Switzerland alone and had
assessed Indian wealth in that single country at $5 trillion. There are some
other well known âslush parksâ like St Kitts, Antigua, Bahamas, and Isle of Man
that multiply such holdings manifold.

Of course, Switzerland remains the roof and crown of the slush parks and if
Indian wealth lying there is added and can be brought home, we will turn into
one of the top, rich nations on the globe.

Indian resources get transferred abroad where these are invested to generate
employment and incomes. Other countries develop and prosper at our cost. No
wonder Switzerland has the second highest per capita income, with this criminal
banking industry in the lead.

The holdings abroad cannot be checked as banks cover themselves with the veil of
secrecy. However, the slush money arising out of the drug trade is being treated
differently. If it is suspected that the money in a bank has some relation with
the drug trade, the secrecy laws stand automatically relaxed, as these have been
amended to that extent.

It was done on the insistence of the big western powers, as drugs are their
problem. After the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11,
2001, money held b y terrorists has also been frozen. For countries like India,
all economic offenders including the corrupt, as also the cooperating
Swiss-bankers, are the âFinancial Terroristsâ or their harbourers.

The major problem of the third world is corruption, and the secrecy laws aid and
abet it. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the people of countries
like Switzerland are more like receivers of stolen property and are leading a
parasitic existence. This hypocrisy does not go well with their famed high
stance on morality.

They should abandon such laws and make their banking business open and
transparent. India should take up this question with Swiss banks, the western
world and with all possible international organisations, including the UN, OECD
etc.

Apart from bank accounts, another dimension is property or other assets that
could be purchased abroad. Since the agency of one country cannot conduct
investigations in another country, some rules need to be framed so that the
particulars of deposits or properties held abroad could be known to the mother
country, in the name of whose citizens these may stand.

Whenever a bank account is opened by an Indian citizen abroad, or property is
purchased, the particulars should be communicated to the Indian authorities. All
details should be maintained in a National Property Register.

In criminal cases, on instructions from the CBI, the accounts should
automatically be frozen, the lockers, the properties and other assets se aled
and ultimately these assets be disposed of as per directions of the Indian
courts. For obtaining/supplying such information, the âdual criminalityâ norm
may not be insisted upon, as corruption is a crime everywhere, only some
technical details may differ.

Once this happens, hiding black incomes abroad will become very difficult and
practically impossible. The country expects action from the Prime Minister who
is revered as an economist, as an academician and as an honest person.
It may be argued that the government will fall as most of the elites, including
some of the civil servants, also hold such slush.

The moot point is whether the PM owes his loyalty to such criminals or to the
nation. What if the government of the day falls, the nation will surely rise.

Capt M Kumar · 07-26-2008, 12:55 PM

<!--emo&

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /> Fodder Scam: IAS officer Sajjal gets four-yr RI

Ranchi, July 25
Senior IAS officer Sajjal Chakraborty, a fodder scam convict, was today sentenced to four yearsâ rigorous imprisonment in connection with the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 39 crore from the Chaibasa treasury in 1993-94. With this, all 64 accused in the fodder scam pertaining to the Chaibasa treasury were sentenced by the CBI court.

The special CBI court of Mr Justice B K Sahay this afternoon pronounced the quantum of punishment on Sajjal, who was produced in the court room from Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), where he was admitted on July 14 after he had fainted in the court while proceedings regarding the same case were on.

Sajjal is a 1980 batch officer. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3.5 lakh on him. He was DC of West Singbhum when the scam occurred.

After the judgement, he was sent back to RIMS. â UNI

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080726/main4.htm

08-04-2008, 02:21 AM

QUOTEGovt allows unqualified firm to take care of Indian airports 
Pioneer.com
J Gopikrishnan | New Delhi
An unknown company from the little-known Cayman Islands has received the green signal from the UPA Government to make a massive investment in construction and renovation of airports in India. The Pioneer investigation has revealed that the company -- Agam SPV Six Limited -- is not registered with Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), the financial regulator of the Islands to prevent money laundering and terrorist funding.Â Â

The US, European Union, International Monetary Fund and United Nation's financial monitoring authorities have made registration to CIMA mandatory for carrying out internal business activities.

On May 1, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had given clearance to Agam SPV Six Limited of the Cayman Islands to invest $300 million (Rs 1,170 crore) to invest in India for building new airports and renovating the existing ones. The CCEA also allowed it to float a 100 per cent foreign equity company in India in this regard.Â
...
Under international pressure, in 2004 the regulatory body -- CIMA -- was created to monitor the activities of financial services. As per the agreement with the treasuries of the US and EU, the main function of the CIMA is to licence, monitor and audit the fund flow of the companies registered with it. CIMA registration is mandatory for all Islands-registered companies to operate in the US and the European Union. The Agam SPV Six Ltd, which got clearance to invest Rs 1170 crore in India, is not registered for doing business with major world community.

The Agam SPV Six Ltd's holding company detail is like a puzzle. The company was incorporated as per the rules of Cayman Islands on February 2007, says a Press release by the CCEA. According to it, the said company is a subsidiary of 'The Agam Fund Limited', which in turn is a subsidiary of Sigma Asset Management (Guernsey) Ltd, and located at Guernsey Islands, between the UK and France.

Sigma Asset Management is owned by another company in London -- Atlas Capital Associates, which in turn is owned by Atlas Capital Group. None of the companies has any expertise in the aviation business. Information available with The Pioneer shows that only the first holding company, 'The Agam Fund Limited', is registered with CIMA (Licence No 11944, registered as a mutual fund on October 2, 2006), while the Agam SPV Six, which claims to be its subsidiary and which intends to invest Rs 1170 crore in India, is not licenced with CIMA.

Lalit Bhasin, president of the India International Bar Association, said, "Both the parent and subsidiary company are separate legal entities in the eyes of the law. The subsidiary company cannot use the parent company to enter into a business association."

When The Pioneer contacted the Finance Ministry of Cayman Islands about the background of Agam SPV Six, they advised that the CIMA website be checked. But the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in New Delhi was reluctant to give any detail about the company. The same was the case with the Finance Ministry. The Pioneer had requested the Finance Secretary, who is also the chairperson of FIPB, to explain the Government's reasons for giving clearance to a non-regulated company. But despite two faxes and a month-long wait, the Finance Secretary has not yet bothered to respond.

Not in right company

Cayman Islands was blacklisted by the international community in 2001 for laundering money and financing terror

The Islands has a population of 50,000 but more than 80,000 companies are registered there

After pressure from international agencies, the Islands created a regulatory body (CIMA). Any company registered on Cayman Islands must be registered with CIMA for international operation

On May 1, CCEA cleared Agam SPV Six Limited of the Cayman Islands to invest $300 million to build/renovate airports

Only the holding company is registered with CIMA, that too as a mutual fund


Before this government falls, Babus and Congress is closing every single deal to make money. <!--emo& Big Grin

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

08-06-2008, 01:29 AM

QUOTEUnauthorised occupants of Govt bungalows: SC for change in lawÂ 
Pioneer.com
Abraham Thomas | New Delhi
Even God cannot save this country," rued the Supreme Court on Tuesday after it gave up on its initiative to introduce changes in law to deal with unauthorised occupants of Government bungalows with an iron hand.

"The whole Government machinery is corrupt. We will lay down the law, but who will implement it," said a Bench of Justices BN Agrawal and GS Singhvi in view of the "galloping trend of unauthorised occupants which neither the Centre nor the States are in a position to contain."

Recalling noted jurist HM Seervai's famous comment to then Prime Minister Moraji Desai that if Chief Ministers of the State do not abide by law, then God save the country, the Bench was peeved to add, "Even God cannot save this country. God is a silent spectator. Even he feels helpless in this country."

This comment coming from the Supreme Court did stun many who stood in the courtroom. The court was in favour of proposing sea changes in law in its desire to see the end of unauthorised occupation of Government bungalows. In this regard, the Bench had sought the responses from the Centre and States on whether it was in favour of amending the relevant provision of law, namely Section 441 of Indian Penal Code.

The Centre in its reply to the court refused to accommodate any such amendment as it felt that unauthorised occupation is 'miniscule'. On top of it, out of the 11 States which submitted their response in writing to the court, most did not support the court's view and suggested that the existing provisions under the Public Premises Act provides for penal provisions considered sufficient.

Finding this stand by the Centre and States as 'condemnable', the Bench said, "It appears that they (Governments) are taking steps in a leisurely manner. Only under the command of this Court they are forded to take action. The Government has no regard to implement the statutory law."

In the light of the Centre's response, the Bench felt that States would be the next to follow suit. Finding its initiative to be a 'futile exercise', the Bench said, "We are of the view that this matter should not be pursued further, ie the proposal to amend Section 441 of IPC is dropped."

The drama in court continued for more than an hour with the Centre counsel Additional Solicitor General Amarendra Saran objecting to the court's comments about the Centre's unwillingness to act against the alleged violators who overstay and refuse to pay rent or give up the accommodation allotted to them. Saran said, "We are acting according to law." Little impressed by this comment, the Bench said, "Law is there, but who bothers. The whole Government is non-functional." When the ASG objected to this comment and suggested the court to fix a fixed timeframe for disposal of evacuation proceedings, the bench refused to budge. "Thirty years ago, nobody thought High Courts and Supreme Court would take up these matters. Its an unwarranted burden on us because of you (Centre)."

Noting its frustration against the Government, the Bench said, "Nobody is there in the Government to bother about public premises to be vacated." In its desperation it turned to amicus curiae Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar who suggested that the court should not allow the national wealth to be squandered in this manner and must put up a law to ensure people do not overstay Government accommodation. The court would hear individual matters pertaining to eviction of individuals but refused to change its stand on improving the law on this subject


Government Bungalow are used for Marriages and parties. So minister, Babus etc are miniting money renting their own homes.

08-08-2008, 10:17 PM

Cash-for-vote scandal:
Initial details are now coming out.
QUOTEThe entire expose comprises of three stages:

I. The offer as made by Shri Rewati Raman Singh, an MP from Samajwadi Party.

II. The meeting between the two of us and Shri Amar Singh and the conversation that he facilitated between us and Shri Ahmed Patel on telephone.

III. The advance amount sent to us by Shri Amar Singh through his associate/assistant, Shri Sanjeev Saxena.

We are now placing before you the complete record of each of the above three stages.
Read details at outlook:
Case against Amar Singh

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