Congress Undemocratic Ideology - 2

01-10-2006, 01:07 AM

The more I think more I believe that Sonia is working for disintegration of India. Every communal policy is being implemented with missionary zeal. The modern day Jaichands (which are dime a dozen in Congress) are assiduously working to drive wedges between the communities. These divisions basically become dedicated vote banks. It is shameful to have irrelevant prime minister Manmohan Singh. I don't think it may not be known to him how harmful some of these policies are to the nation. It is like creating divisions which have not been seen since Jinnah. Take a read.

A communal policy of Sonia Gandhi

QUOTE A communal policy

The Pioneer Edit Desk

The Congress, it seems, will go to any extent to promote its pernicious minorityism disguised as official policy. The latest move of the Congress, which has come in the form of a UPA Government initiative, is perhaps the most diabolical attempt by the party to fracture India along communal lines. Reports indicate that the Government, over-riding objections by the Union Law Ministry, is actively considering a new system of allocating funds for key social sector programmes: Instead of looking at secular social development indices of a particular State, it will look at the communal profile of the beneficiaries.

Of the total spending, 18.4 per cent will be reserved for religious minority communities; this will be further divided proportionately among the beneficiaries, depending on their numerical strength. As a result, if Muslims outnumber Christians in a particular State - as they do in most States - they will end up with a larger share of social development funds, grossly disproportionate to their overall demographic profile. Not only will such a system, if and when it is introduced, unleash communal discontent, it will widen the chasm that separates the majority and the minority communities.

The 'minority' tag will no longer merely denote the numerical strength of a community in secular India, it shall come to represent the badge of political favouritism. As the Law Ministry has sensibly pointed out, such patent communal bias in policy formulation will violate Article 14 and negate the spirit of Article 38 of the Constitution.

As if allocation of social welfare funds along communal lines were not bad enough, the Congress is also pushing for a separate Plan allocation for minority communities. Seen along with the other outrageous acts of minorityism of this Government, India's secular fabric and spirit are both threatened. No less distressing is the contempt with which the Constitution is being undermined repeatedly to satiate the Congress's insatiable and repulsive lust for minority votes.

To argue, as those who subscribe to the Congress's cynical and perverse politics do, that Government will be able to better focus on the social, educational and economic uplift of the minority communities through communal allocation of social development funds, is patently misleading. The plight of the Muslim underclass, for instance, is no worse than that of the Hindu underclass.

Is the Government then suggesting that it shall henceforth overlook the latter's plight to ensure a better deal for the former? Few will doubt that the Congress and the UPA regime that it heads are openly hostile towards the concept of a neutral state that does not pander to any religious or linguistic community.

On the contrary, this is an ideologically bankrupt, ethically corrupt and morally tainted regime that is relentlessly pursuing an insidious communal agenda that neatly fits into the matrix of Mohammed Ali Jinnah's two-nation theory and will soon force a social partition on the nation whose consequences will be far more devastating than those of the political partition of 1947.

This is a regime that does not care about the future of India; it is led by a party that is obsessed with vile electoral arithmetic and is driven by the obnoxious obsession of individuals who wish to ruin social harmony in order to be seen as messiahs of Muslims and Christians. It is not sufficient for us to depend on the judiciary to undo the damage that is being inflicted by the Congress and its cohorts in the UPA. The people must stand up and resist.

01-10-2006, 02:20 AM

QUOTERetd intelligence man behind tap, allowed to flee country 
Pioneer.com
Pramod Kumar Singh/ New Delhi
Phone-tapping case ---- It appears that the real player who masterminded the tapping of Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh will never be caught. This mysterious man has safely left the country under official protection. Â Â

The "safe passage" to this man was obviously provided to ensure that he did not spill the beans about those who pulled the strings from behind the curtain in this sordid drama. The law enforcing agencies were in the know about his clandestine operations but apparently blinked when the controversy surfaced.

Official sources told The Pioneer, the presence of this former intelligence official would have embarrassed those who were behind the illegal tapping of Mr Amar Singh's phone. This man was privy to the real conspiracy leading to the interception of all incoming and outgoing calls of Mr Singh's landline telephone.

Sources said this former intelligence officer had hired Bhupendra Singh, owner of Metro Intelligence Agency to arrange the nitty-gritty of the whole operation. Bhupendra was the first person to be arrested by Delhi Police in this connection.

The involvement of a former intelligence man has given a fresh twist to the controversy because Mr Amar Singh has all along claimed that the conspiracy was hatched by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her cronies with the help of intelligence agencies.

It was suspected that a small-time private detective like Bhupendra Singh could not have been the real kingpin of the entire operation involving the phone tapping of a man as influential as Amar Singh. Sources said that Bhupendra Singh had identified the man who had signed him on for the lucrative assignment, but the authorities did not act on the tip off.

Sources said, apprehending that the arrest of the "mastermind" could unravel the whole conspiracy and expose his political patrons, the authorities made sure that he left the country.

Interestingly Delhi Police investigated the matter more as a violation of the Telegraph Act though it has registered a case under section 120-B of Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy and sections 468/471 for forging an official document. 

It was focussing more on the common intention of the three arrested namely, Bhupendra, Dr Anurag and Kuldeep rather than unearthing the criminal conspiracy behind this politically sensitive issue. When contacted, senior police officers said that it was case of violation of privacy under Telegraph Act and forgery and it was beyond their brief to investigate the political aspect of the case.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police has sent Bhupendra's laptop, which was seized during a police raid in his office, to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory at Hyderabad so that the hard disk can be scanned. Reportedly, Bhupendra had used this laptop to store the details of Amar Singh's conversation with others.

Delhi Police do not have the tapes but they want to be doubly sure about the contents of the laptop. Sources in Delhi Police said that the investigation in this case has been almost completed and a report will be accordingly filed before the court how it all happened.

Police is believed to be looking for two more persons; Vijay Pal and Vikram who were involved in the tapping. Vijay Pal is being touted as the person who arranged the logistics to tap Amar Singh's phone while Vikram took care of the financial aspect, sources said. However, the police are yet to find who was financing Vikram Singh.

On Monday, several teams of Delhi Police Special Cell raided parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to nab Vijay Pal in connection with the tapping of the telephones of Samajwadi Party leaders. Sources confirmed that Special Cell has tracked down the hideouts of Vijay Pal and his arrest was imminent.

Police teams have carried raids earlier to nab the person on whose direction the letters of senior police and government officials were forged to enable tapping of the phones. "Raids are being carried out at several places," the sources said.

01-10-2006, 04:36 AM

QUOTEAmar Singh moves SC, impleads Sonia, 7 others 
Pioneer News Service/ New Delhi
After days of relentless attack against the Congress leadership for allegedly masterminding the tapping of his phones, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh on Monday impleaded Congress president Sonia Gandhi as one of the eight respondents while seeking Supreme Court's directive for a judicial probe into the scandal.

Adding fuel to the fire, the BJP has also charged that it's senior party leader LK Advani's telephone too has been bugged and demanded an all-party meet to discuss the issue. "We have very authentic and credible information that the residential telephones of Mr Advani were being tapped," said BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar.

Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Monday also said he had information that his phone was being tapped. In reply to a query, Mr Gowda said, "I had never complained about my phone-tapping ...what I have to hide... but someone told me that my phone was being tapped, that too, when I was not in power at all."

He said the phone-tapping episode reflected the "deterioration" of Indian politics, which was going downhill day by day.

After moving the Apex Court, Amar Singh told reporters that his counsel had also sought the court's direction to the Union Government to ensure strict observation of the Indian Telegraph Act provisions and compliance of the court's own directions on the issue, besides launching a prosecution of those involved in the 'bugging' of his phone.

Besides impleading Ms Gandhi, the Union Ministries of Home and Telecommunication in his petition, Mr Singh also made his friend and industrial tycoon Anil Ambani's Reliance Infocomm a respondent in his petition. The others whom the SP leader made respondents included Delhi Government's chief secretary and principal secretary (Home), and other top police and civil authorities.

After opening a legal front with the Centre, Mr Singh went a step further and insinuated that Union Law Minister HR Bhardwaj might be having a role in conducting the dirty work of phone tapping at the behest of 10 Janpath.

"It's no coincidence that advocate DS Sharma, who happens to be an old partner of the Union Law Minister and who has his chamber adjacent to that of Mr Bhardwaj in Tis Hazari Court premises, is representing arrested private detective Bhupendra in the trial court," said Mr Singh.

He also accused that Dr Anurag, who has been arrested by Delhi Police for his alleged role in phone tapping was the son of a retired Customs officer Virendra Singh and close to the powers-that-be.

Mr Singh alleged that the Congress has now formed a committee of a senior Cabinet Minister and two senior journalists to plant excerpts of his taped telephone conversation.

The BJP while charging that their leader's phone was being tapped, said that the information had reached the party four days back.

"It's not only a serious matter but outrageous. The Government owes an obligation to clarify its position," said Mr Javadekar adding that party president Rajnath Singh, who had taken the matter seriously, had also demanded a thorough inquiry into the allegations.

BJP's allegation of interception of the phone of its party stalwart has followed similar allegations by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.

According to the BJP spokesman, Mr Advani's phone was being tapped in the wake of the Volcker Report which had listed the Congress and former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh as non-contractual beneficiaries in the Iraq Oil-for-Food scam.

Mr Advani who returned to Delhi only on Monday afternoon after a vacation in Rajasthan, however, said at the airport that he was surprised to know that his phone too was being tapped.

Party sources said the information about the tapping of Mr Advani's phone had reached former party president M Venkaiah Naidu who cross-checked and found that it was correct. The informers are believed to be present and former officials of agencies which indulge in such activities.

The BJP wanted the norms for tapping be made so transparent and stringent that it could not be used for political purposes, said Mr Javadekar.

He said phone tapping was confined to criminal charges only but this Government was using it for political reasons.

The SP leader, meanwhile, contended that his telephone interception was not his personal matter as claimed by AICC general secretary Ambika Soni. "A mere constable standing outside 10 Janpath turns out to be a national matter, leading to instantaneous fall of Chandrashekhar Government but when the same Congress orders the telephone tapping of a leader of a party with 40 Lok Sabha MPs, it is dismissed as a personal matter. At this rate, even my murder tomorrow could be dismissed as a personal matter," said Mr Singh.

Mr Singh also lamented that his accusatory fingers against a PMO official, close to 10 Janpath has hurt Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apologised for causing "unintentional hurt to him."

"Prime Minister's Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru has issued a statement saying that my allegations against a PMO official is mischievous. There was no mischief meant in my allegations...but I have mentioned only those who have been close to 10 Janpath," said Mr Singh.

He said that he had been telling the Prime Minister for a long time that his phones were being tapped. "Even then my phone is (still being) tapped...If Prime Minister's Office is hurt over what I have said, I offer my apology."

Mr Singh alleged that even Supreme Court judges' telephones were being tapped.

Making a fresh charge, the Samajwadi Party leader said that he came to know through reliable sources that even former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh's phones were being tapped. "I will be meeting Natwar," he said.

01-10-2006, 07:43 AM

Its time to read book written by Dar. Congress is repating 70s again.
Current congress is using all agencies to tap opposition and neglecting India's internal and external security.

Current congress had no respect for Indian consitution or judiciary.
I think to save thmselves Congress may try Emergency after any terrorist attack or create a environment for riots.

Lets see which dirty trick they will adopt. I don't think they will go for election unless and until forced on them.

01-11-2006, 08:48 PM

Here is the bad news. CORRUPT ITALIAN MAFIA presents slow death to blind VOTERS of RAE BARELI.

Now that ITALIAN MAFIA B1TCH and CONmen are doing it under guise of SECULARISM mantra, our garbage SCUM India-hating COMMIES and environmentalists such as Arundhati Roy, Medha Patkar do not talk about it. Well... It is OK as long as COMMIES and CONmen led by SONIA present posison to masses to kill them enmasse. If it is a dam that brings developments, all the COMMIES are there to kill the PROJECT.

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story....t_id=85721

Shunned by the world, asbestos makes Sonia turf its new home
Hyderabad asbestos major Visaka Industries, run by Congress leader G Venkataswamyâs family, opens shop in Rae Bareli
SONU JAIN

RAE BARELI, JANUARY 10: As the world queues up to ban all forms of asbestos, Sonia Gandhiâs constituency Rae Bareli just got a new asbestos unit. Commissioned this monthâit is perfectly legal to set up such a unitâit was cleared in record time: four months flat.

The factory, which will produce 10,000 tonnes of asbestos roofing sheets, belongs to the Hyderabad group Visaka Industries, one of the biggest players in asbestos roofing sheets. Chairman G Vivekanand is son of Congress leader G Venkataswamy who is deputy leader of Congress in Lok Sabha and a former Union Textile Minister. His other son G Vinod is Labour minister in Andhra Pradesh.

Advertisement
Visaka has six units all over the country for asbestos roofing sheets but this is its first venture in North India. Four other asbestos units of Utkal, Jaypee are coming up in western UP and there will be two units of Charminar. This makes it even more important for Visaka to get its act together to get some lead time. By the middle of this month, 1,800 tonne of these sheets would be made per day in western UP.

ââIt is a scary scenario. It has been proven that when these sheets are cut or when wear and tear takes place, fibres are released which can be extremely hazardous,ââ said Qamar Rahman of the Indian Toxicology Research Centre. Her research in the 80s and 90s showed that 7 per cent of workers in the UP Asbestos Industry in Mohanganj near Lucknow were suffering from asbestosis.

These are some of the concerns that the fast-track clearances have germinated: Environmental clearance was sought in May 2 last year and the final clearance came on September 21. Four months is one of the fastest clearances by the Ministry of the Environment and Forests.

The Hyderabad industries that manufacture Charminar sheets applied at the same time but their clearance came in December. In this haste, has the due diligence been done on concerns related to asbestos? The Environmental Impact Assessment has been done by a Lucknow-based firm called DARB Consultants. It uses a set template and makes reference to asbestos in two paragraphs in more than a 300-page document.

Though the unit has started, they do not have medical check-ups for all the workers in the unit, as stipulated by the Supreme Court. They have a tie-up with a hospital in Rae Bareli but though production has begun, not all workers have been medically examined. No independent agency has been appointed to monitor the levels of fibre levels at the work-site, again a condition imposed by the Court.

A mandatory public hearing was done but located in one of the poorest districts of UP, it is anybodyâs guess on what awareness related to asbestos would be. Both World Trade Organisation and World Health Organisation has stipulated that there can be no safe way of handling asbestos. Asbestos sheets are made of fly ash and cement but has 10 per cent of asbestos in them to make them heat and fire resistant.

After the four new units, manufacturers hope that North India will start replacing thatched roofs with these sheets. The area of concern is the fibre of asbestos getting air-borne, affecting workers in the factory and the population living close to the factory. The law in India stipulates that asbestos be transferred in close containers, in palette form and in impenetrable bags.

Even one fibre lodges in the lung of the worker, it can cause cancer of the lungs and asbostosis which is a severe form of lung impairment. Even though bag filters are installed to capture the fibre, ââthere is no way of capturing every single fibre, some will fall on the ground and be swept away,ââ said Ved Prakash, environmental engineer from the UP State Pollution Control Board. Factory owners maintain that they are able to deal with fibre with their precautionary measures. ââThis is a poor manâs roof. The West can afford to ban it because they have the money to go into alternative technology,ââ said G Vivekanand, chairman of Visaka industries. They claim they have spent nearly 40-50 lakh in installing asbestos-related measures. Though the factory has just started and the others are on the horizon, the question is whether the regulation will keep pace with concerns related to asbestos.

01-12-2006, 01:57 AM

http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?m...t&counter_img=1
 No case against Mr Q: Govt
Pioneer News Service/ New Delhi

In the winter of controversies, Bofors has bounced back on the centre stage of Indian politics. One of the principal players in the scam, Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, known for his alleged links with 10 Janpath, has been given a clean chit by the UPA Government, ostensibly to facilitate the defreezing of his bank accounts in London.
Quattrocchi's accounts may be defreezed

A CNN-IBN investigation carried out in London and New Delhi has revealed that a senior Law Ministry official has informed the British crown prosecution service that there is no evidence directly linking Mr Quattrocchi to the Bofors payoffs. Further the Government has no plans to appeal against the Delhi High Court order which had earlier exonerated the Hinduja brothers in the Bofors case. The move could lead to the defreezing of Mr Quattrocchi's two accounts in London.

The BJP was quick to criticise the Government's decision. Party general secretary Arun Jaitley said, "It has become obvious that Quattrocchi was someone very special for the Congress party and its' leader." Mr Jaitley said that a clean chit to a man against whom a charge sheet was pending in a court of law, was baffling.

According to the investigation, Additional Solicitor General B Datta visited the British Crown Prosecution Service on December 22, and informed the CPS that the Indian Government had no evidence to directly link Mr Quattrocchi to the Bofors payoffs. He is also learnt to have informed the CPS that the Government had no objections if Mr Quattrocchi's accounts were defreezed. Mr Dutta, when contacted, refused to react to this, saying, "These are confidential matters, we cannot discuss this in public."

But in an email to CNN-IBN, the Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson confirmed the meeting: "The CPS is representing the Indian authorities in the UK courts in connection with an order to restrain Mr Quattrocchi's UK assets. The CPS met the Additional Solicitor General of India in December about this matter and has corresponded with the High Court about it this week."

Mr Quattrocchi has two bank accounts in London: 3 million euros in account number 5 A51516L in BSI AG Bank and one million US dollars in account number 5A51516M in the same bank.

Documents available with CNN-IBN also show that the CBI's director of prosecution has strongly suggested not to appeal against the Delhi High Court order given in May 2005 which exonerated the Hinduja brothers. The Director, Prosecution has said in his note: "It would really be a travesty of justice and fair play if the accused are forced to face trial without any definite time frame. I am not inclined to recommend an SLP against the order."
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JAI JAI SONIA MATAJI. SAVE INDIA .... <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clap.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='clap.gif' />

01-13-2006, 12:59 AM

QUOTEImmoral UPA tries to save Mr Q 
Pioneer.com OP-ed
The illicit request to Britain to de-freeze Bofors bribery accused Quattrocchi's bank accounts is shameful and shocking, says Arun Jaitley

The disclosure made by the news channel CNN-IBN that the Government of India through the Law Ministry, and in particular, through Mr B Datta, Additional Solicitor General of India, officially requested the Government of Great Britain in December 2005 to de-freeze the bank accounts of Mr Ottavio Quattrocchi which were frozen in the course of investigation of Bofors bribery case, has exposed the complete lack of ethics and morality of the UPA Government.

The CBI has investigated the case. Under Indian jurisprudence, the CBI is an independent agency which decides the course of its investigation. Courts have repeatedly held that a political executive can never direct the CBI or any other investigative agency as to what course to follow in the course of its investigation. Yet, the Government of India and its political executive have chosen this course of cover up. The CBI has completely lost its independence.

The Bofors chargesheet against Mr Quattrocchi is still pending. The appropriate authorities in Switzerland had in 1993 informed the Government of India that Mr Quattrocchi was one of the beneficiaries of the bank accounts into which kickbacks in the Bofors case were deposited.

The close proximity of Mr Quattrocchi (an Italian citizen) with the Gandhi family is well known. He had shifted to India soon after the marriage of Rajiv Gandhi with Ms Sonia Gandhi and had become the principal representative of an Italian company, Snam Progetti, in India for several years. His close connections with the Gandhi family were never in doubt. His political clout helped his company immensely.

When the Swiss authorities formally communicated to the Government of India that the kickbacks in the Bofors case were deposited in Mr Quattrocchi's accounts, the Congress Government then headed by PV Narasimha Rao was asked by prominent members to immediately impound Mr Quattrocchi's passport to prevent him from fleeing the country. This was not done and he was allowed to leave the country.

Since then the CBI has been involved in a legal battle to extradite him from Malaysia where he found his new home. The case against him both for extradition and for receipt of kickbacks in the Bofors case are still pending. It is for the CBI and appropriate judicial authorities to take a view in the matter. Even the CBI without permission of the court cannot close the case. Notwithstanding this legal position, for a Law Officer of the Government of India to request the authorities in Britain to de-freeze his accounts is scandalous.

It is an attempt to use unconstitutional means to help a person who has caused wrongful loss to the Government of India. What is the hurry to pass on to Mr Quattrocchi the illegal receipts of the Bofor's deal? Did this money have to be passed on by Mr Quattrocchi to some one else?

The history of the Congress party in relation to the Bofors case is a history of cover-ups. Even though disclosures were made in April 1987 by a Swedish Radio broadcast, that kickbacks had been paid in the case, no FIR was registered as required by law to freeze the accounts and no action was taken to seek legal assistance from Swiss Government.

It was only when the Rajiv Gandhi Government was defeated in December, 1989 that the National Front Government, then supported by the BJP and Left parties, allowed the CBI full permission to file an FIR and make request to appropriate authorities for legal assistance and freezing of accounts. The Congress governments have made repeated cover up efforts some of which are indicated below:

* Non-registration of FIR when the facts of the case came to light. l No request being made to the Swiss authorities for legal assistance and for freezing of accounts.

* In December,1990 the then Law officer of the Government of India headed by Mr Chandra Shekhar (which was supported by the Congress), namely, Mr KTS Tulsi, made a statement that the facts of the case did not disclose an offence and, therefore, should be quashed. The court cast every doubt of the case, which was set aside by the Supreme Court.

* The High Court subsequently quashed the chargesheet in a judgement delivered by Justice GC Mittal and Justice Sat Pal which was later set aside by the Supreme Court.

* In 1992, Madhavsinh Solanki, the then External Affairs Minister, handed over a memorandum to the appropriate Swiss authorities requesting them not to render assistance to Indian authorities. This was exposed by a journalistic investigation and Solanki had to be sacked from the Government.

* After the chargesheets were filed in 1999 and proceedings started, the Delhi High Court delivered an erroneous judgement in 2004 holding a case of prevention of corruption was not made out. When the UPA came back to power, it prevented the CBI from filing an appeal in the case and let the erroneous judgement stand. Pursuant to the said judgement, some other accused were also discharged. Those orders were allowed to remain unchallenged by the CBI before the court. A public interest petition in this regard to continuing the case is now pending before the Supreme Court.

* Now a formal request is illegally made through a Law Officer of the Government of India to appropriate authorities to even release the illegal funds which were lying frozen in Quattrocchi's accounts. Even under the allocation of business rules, the law Ministry has nothing to do with this case.

It has been the argument of the Congress party and its president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, that there was nothing in this case and, therefore, no evidence was forthcoming. The truth of the matter is that despite such cover up attempts, the fact that kickbacks were paid in the name of A&E Services, a company of which Mr Quattrocchi was the beneficiary was a strong indictment of the Congress party and the Gandhi family and those close to Mr Quattrocchi. The fact that Mr Quattrocchi was allowed to flee and still being helped itself is a scandal.

If Mr Quattrocchi requested the appropriate authorities to de-freeze his account, the CBI would oppose it; but why should the political executive of the Government of India make such a request? Why is the Government over-anxious that this money be paid to Mr Quattrocchi.

Two questions arise. First, is it within the knowledge of the CBI that the political executive is making a request for de-freezing the accounts? Second, is it with the approval and authority of the Prime Minister that a Law Officer and the Ministry of Law not authorised in the matter were acting towards de-freezing of these accounts? The answer to the first question will expose the legal infirmity of the action. The answer to the second will put the Prime Minister in the dock and raise several issues of ethics and morality for him.

(The author, a senior BJP leader and Union Law Minister in the NDA Government, is member of the Rajya Sabha)

01-13-2006, 01:32 AM

The question is if the DUMMY PM even knew that the ITALIAN MAFIA ordered the defreezing of the accounts? Did the Home minister even inform him or take the orders from the ITALIAN MAFIA controlling the whole of India?

01-13-2006, 08:20 PM

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=61322

Phone-tapping fallout of UP politics: Paswan

QUOTEThe relationship between the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the Congress, which is supporting it, had soured and the phone-tapping issue was a fallot of this, the Lok Janashakti party leader said.

01-13-2006, 08:24 PM

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story....t_id=85845

Defreezing Quattrocchi UK accounts: CBI opposed it, Law Ministry wanted it


Bofors Addl Solicitor General who went to London said CBI has no basis to keep accounts frozen; agency objected on record

QUOTEUnion Law Minister H R Bhardwaj claimed today that it was the CBIâs clean chit to Bofors-accused Ottavio Quattrocchi that was communicated to authorities in London where the Italian businessmanâs Rs 21 crore lies frozen since July 2003. Official records show that the CBI hasnât given Quattrocchi a clean chit, itâs the Governmentâs Law officers who have been taking that stand. Documents with The Indian Express show that the CBI has, in fact, been opposed to the defreezing of Quattrocchiâs accounts. Additional Solicitor General B Dutta, who reports to Bhardwaj, has been pushing for the unfreezing saying that the CBI âhas no justificationâ resisting it.

QUOTEIn 2004 itself, Stephen Hellman, counsel for the Crown Prosecution Service, had suggested to CBI that to keep the two accounts frozen, it should declare Quattrocchi a proclaimed offender under Section 82 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and attach his properties under Section 83.

But Dutta argued against it. 

Here is another gem from CON men..

http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/jan/13bofor...?q=np&file=.htm

Congress steers clear of Quattrocchi issue

QUOTE"It is not for us to answer. It is the legal response of a department of the government. The Congress has nothing to do with the record or with decision-making," Singhvi said briefing newsmen in Delhi.

"There is no question of approval or disapproval of the Congress," Singhvi, replying to a question, said whether the evidence against the Bofors agent Quattrocchi was suficient or not was for the legal department to decide.

"This is a decision for the legal department and the Central Bureau of Investigation. Direct your inquiry elsewhere," he said.

Expressing legal opinion, the Congress spokesman said according to the law the accounts of an individual could not be frozen beyond a certain period.

There must be evidence to justify extension for keeping the account frozen.

"Whether the view of the law ministry is justified or not, it is for the ministry to answer. I am not privy to any material," he said.

01-13-2006, 09:09 PM

The Q Bank Accounts Unfrozen Issue

Other than the Daily Pioneer none of our secular media is even reporting this issue.

To them this is not an issue woth mentioning.

What is happening to our country ?

01-13-2006, 10:18 PM

QUOTEWinter windfall
* Winters are generally pleasant in Delhi. The flowers in the gardens of the sarkari bungalows are in full bloom. Therefore it's opportune time for garden lunches. For ages Congress veteran Sajjan Kumar has been hosting mediapersons to his dehati lunch in first week of January. His menu is replete with desi khana and variety of lassi and chahch. Taking a cue from Kumar some other Congress leaders too have joined the fray. Prominent among them being Speaker Prem Singh and Delhi Congress president Rambabu Sharma. While Kumar has kept his do media exclusive, Speaker Choudhary Prem Singh uses the opportunity for some social interaction inviting people from different fields. Rambabu, however, out-did everybody by turning his lunch in a workers convention. Coming a day after Chief Minister's garden lunch, Rambabu used the opportunity to showcase his mass appeal. In the process forcing many to go hungry.

Gourmet's delight
* Coming to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's lunch, it's an occasion for the media persons and the bureaucrats to interact in an informal environ. It's an opportunity to get a glimpse of the lighter side of an otherwise taciturn Chief Secretary S Reghunathan. The Chief Minister herself decides the menu. So is the arrangement on her sprawling lawn at 3 Motilal Nehru Place. She floored everyone last year with her South Indian selections including Hyderabadi biryani and Konkani curry. This year it started with a very exotic kind of soup but for the main course it was the turn of Purani Dilli. Gilauwati kababs, Nahari, Mughlai parantha and murg korma had the pen pushers, both of the media and the bureaucracy, throwing caution to wind. For those with sweet tooth it ranged from staple ice cream and jalebi to rare hot-chocolate cake 


This is happening with media. Why you think they are ignoring all corrupt issues of COngress?
Now these sold out traitors are in line to have free cars and free plot in surrounding Delhi, kids school admission, jewelery for wife or mistress.

01-13-2006, 10:19 PM

How government of India tried to bury Bofors case (TIMES NEWS NETWORK)

Dhananjay Mahapatra & Vishwa Mohan

[ Friday, January 13, 2006 12:54:52 am TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

NEW DELHI: A week before additional solicitor-general B Dutta rushed to London to brief the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in connection with Ottavio Quattrocchi's case, the government had shot down CBI's proposal that one of its officers accompany him.

The move to brief the CPS had been initiated by the then CBI director U S Misra and a meeting between the agency and the government was held on November 16.

Sources said it was decided at the meeting to send a CBI officer along with a legal officer to London as the agency was supposed to brief CPS about case.

The same month, the agency wrote to the department of personnel and training for permission. DoPT's response on December 17 was a clear no.

Incidentally by that time, new CBI director Vijay Shankar, who was earlier involved in the Bofors investigation took charge.

An official said DoPT had, in fact, asked CBI in December to brief Dutta who was selected to be present before the CPS. Subsequently, three agency officials briefed the ASG before the latter's departure to London.

Dutta was told about the chargesheet and Red Corner Notice against Quattrocchi besides the efforts to trace the fugitive's bank accounts and the ongoing probe to find out its linkages with the kickbacks, the official added.

It is, however, not clear to CBI as to why the Centre did not agree to send a CBI officer along with Dutta. They even wonder whether Dutta had actually exceeded his brief and told the CPS that there was no evidence against Quattrocchi.

An official explained that there may be no evidence to link the kickback with Quattrocchi's two frozen accounts in London, but there was enough evidence against him in the Bofors case. That's why the fugitive was chargesheeted and a RCN is still pending against him, he said.

A glance at the Bofors case gives an impression about a systematic approach to bury the politically-sensitive case.

The Delhi High Court in February 2004 quashed the corruption charges against all accused in the case but maintained cheating and conspiracy charges against the Hinduja brothers.

With general elections round the corner, the NDA was so sure of coming back to power that it wanted to show its fairness by awaiting the people's verdict before appealing in SC against the HC order.

But NDA lost and Congress came to power in May 2004. Thereafter began the systematic approach to bury the case. The UPA did not appeal against the Delhi HC order which attained finality after the end of the 90-day limitation period.

On May 27, 2004, Dutta, appearing for CBI, told HC that the agency did not have authenticated copies of the Swiss bank documents relating to Rs 65-crore kickbacks in the gun deal.

In one stroke, Dutta nullified the years of efforts of the agency resulting in the public handing over of Swiss bank documents in the late 90s to the then CBI chief Joginder Singh at Berne in Switzerland.

Dutta's concession was good enough for Justice R S Sodhi to allow the appeal of the Hinduja brothers to quash charges and lambast CBI for wasting Rs 250 crore on the investigation.

The CBI was not perturbed by the HC order, for they knew at least three instances where the SC had overturned such orders.

But the government had other plans. It sought an opinion from another ASG ââ Kalyan Pathan ââ whether it should file an appeal in the SC. Pathak obliged by opining that it is not a fit case for filing an appeal in the SC.

And now, this opinion of ASG Pathak has been used by the agency to defreeze the accounts of Quattrocchi, who according to the CBI chargesheet had "unhindered access" to the powers that be.

If the agency was to send Dutta for the purpose of defreezing Quattrocchi's account, why was it keen on the Italian businessman's extradition from Malaysia? This a question that remains unanswered.

01-13-2006, 10:19 PM

Bofors: Law ministry weathers the storm (TIMES INTERNET NETWORK)

[ Thursday, January 12, 2006 08:15:57 pm TIMES INTERNET NETWORK ]

NEW DELHI: The governmentâs troubles caused by its move to send additional solicitor-general B Datta to London to help defreeze accounts of key Bofors accused Ottavio Quattrocchi mounted, with the Left and Samajwadi Party joining BJP in questioning the "lean chit" given to the Italian businessman.

The governmentâs discomfiture also increased when law minister H R Bharadwajâs public position that there was no evidence against Quattrocchi was contradicted within hours by the CBI. The investigating agency said the fugitive Italian was chargesheeted, faced an Interpol Red-Corner notice and that his case â last heard by a designated court on December 12, 2005 â was next listed for March 31.

There were other signs of turbulence as well with a PIL being filed in Supreme Court, questioning the motive behind a senior law official meeting UKâs Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to facilitate Quattrocchiâs accounts being defrozen. On March 31, CBI will also submit in the designated court a status report on steps taken to extradite the accused.

In government circles, the mood was watchful as the controversy was tracked. The PMO kept mum, choosing to let the law ministry weather the storm. But even as BJPâs campaign was sought to be countered by voicing the sentiment that the saffron party had to answer why it had not nabbed Quattrocchi when NDA was in power, thereâs no doubt about a certain wariness over how the issue would develop.

Additional solicitor-general B Duttaâs communication to the CPS that there was no case for keeping Quattrocchiâs London bank accounts frozen was flayed by CPM.

01-14-2006, 12:13 AM

QUOTEExplain stand on Quattrocchi: BJP to PM
New Delhi | January 13, 2006
India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to explain the move to de-freeze the British bank accounts of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, named as the conduit in the Bofors payoff case, and demanded the law minister's resignation on the issue.

The party also wanted that Additional Solicitor General B. Datta's statement before Britain's Crown Prosecution Service late last month giving New Delhi's green light to de-freeze Quattrocchi's accounts be "immediately reversed".

"If the prime minister was in the know of it, then he is equally culpable. If he was not aware, then it is for him to introspect as to what kind of government he is running," BJP leader Arun Jaitley said at a press conference here.

"We are saddened that such a major decision has been taken (to de-freeze Quattrocchi's accounts) and the prime minister was not aware of this," Jaitley added.

Earlier in the day, informed sources had said that neither Prime Minister Manmohan Singh nor Congress president Sonia Gandhi were aware of the move to de-freeze Quattrochi's accounts.

Demanding Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj's resignation for publicly giving Quattrocchi a clean chit Thursday, Jaitley was equally harsh on the law ministry and its officials.

"They were complete usurpers of power; they were interlopers; they were hustlers who edged out the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and took on themselves to decide whether Quattrocchi was guilty or not," Jaitley said.

Said Bharadwaj Friday: "Unless you have proof, how can you keep the accounts frozen? We cannot speak to Quattrocchi because he is in Malaysia, so how do we get proof?"

Jaitley did not agree.

"Is this because the accused is an Italian and has links with Sonia Gandhi?" he asked, referring to the Congress president's Italian origins. 

"This has never happened in the case of an Indian accused (that he had been let off without asking to be freed). Is the law different for Italian accused? Are they outside the ambit of the concept of equality before law?" Jaitley wondered.

The Bofors kickbacks case had been expected to die a natural death after the Delhi High Court last year ruled that the Europe-based Hinduja brothers, who were said to have facilitated the Bofors payoffs, had committed no wrongdoing. It rebounded this week after it was made known that the Indian government said it had no objections to Quattrocchi's accounts being de-frozen.

Britain had frozen the two accounts in 2003 after the Indian government said they could contain part of the Rs.640 million payoffs for securing the Indian Army's order for the Bofors' howitzers.
news.webindia123.com/news...&cat=India

01-14-2006, 12:36 AM

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...371277.cms

QUOTE Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi are believed to have said they were not aware of the de-freezing issue. 

<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /> <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clap.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='clap.gif' /> <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /> <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbup.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbup.gif' /> <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rocker.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rocker.gif' /> <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /> <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' />

We all know PM doesn't know.

QUOTE According to Congress party sources, Manmohan Singh, who was "visibly upset and angry over the recent developments," told Congress leaders who met him that he did not have any information about the decision to de-freeze the accounts. 

THis is how country is being run. The minister does not even bother to inform the PM. He directly report MAFIA in 10 Janpath. NO need to care about the old guy

01-14-2006, 09:58 AM

QUOTEJittery Cong may make Bhardwaj the fall guy
Pioneer.com
Sanjay K Jha/ New Delhi
Having sensed that the Quattrocchi revelation was becoming a huge embarrassment for the party and the Government, the Congress leadership on Friday showed acute desperation to distance itself from the entire episode. The party grapevine was agog with speculation that a suitable scapegoat would be found to ensure the taint doesn't reach the Prime Minister and the Congress president.

At the official Press briefing, party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi was reluctant to answer queries related to Quattrocchi, arguing the Law Ministry and the CBI were the competent authorities to tackle those questions. He asserted the Congress, which wanted the law to take its own course and the guilty to be punished, had nothing to do with the decision. To questions related to Quattrocchi's proximity with Ms Sonia Gandhi, he said the attempt to sensationalise this issue to tarnish the image of the Gandhi family is nothing new.

Mr Singhvi took care to restrict the development to "a particular department", seeking to convey a message that the Government as a whole wasn't involved in the decision. In fact, the attempt to isolate the Law Ministry and lay the entire lame at its doors was visible at different layers of the party and the Government. Even the Prime Minister's Office claimed it was not consulted while taking this decision.

Nobody in the Congress appeared to be defending the decision and there were murmurs in the party about this "coup" having been plotted by a few persons. Congress leaders said the Additional Solicitor General involved in the decision was "extremely close" to Law Minister HR Bhardwaj and said that most people, including the Prime Minister, were not privy to this decision. Some Congress leaders even started speculating that the Law Minister might ultimately lose his job in the coming reshuffle.

But there was no answer to the question whether the decision was taken under instructions from 10 Janpath or taken independently to please or embarrass 10 Janpath. Officially, Mr Singhvi rubbished all suggestions about the involvement of the Congress president and repeatedly asserted that the Congress wanted the guilty to be punished. But after endless grilling by the media, Mr Singhvi remarked cautiously, "We are not holding any brief for Mr Quattrocchi. But the law official didn't give any value judgment as to whether the accounts should be frozen or de-frozen."

Specifically asked if the Congress believed the position taken by the law official concerned was right, Mr Singhvi said, "We can't answer this question. We don't have relevant information. Only the Law Ministry and the CBI can answer these questions."

The Congress party's aloofness and ignorance scarcely impressed the media as it is difficult to believe the Law Ministry can stage this coup on its own. And if such important decisions are taken by keeping the Prime Minister in the dark, the functioning of this Government clearly shows a dangerous trend.

The larger issue, however, is the political fall-out as this would create an impression that the Congress-led Government's priority is to provide comfort to such controversial figures like Quattrocchi. This will also damage the image of Ms Sonia Gandhi as the Opposition is bound to mount a huge propaganda about Quattrocchi's intimacy with her. Little wonder, the party has woken up to swift damage control by refusing to endorse the Government's decision.

This is particularly disturbing for the Congress as it had just come out of the Volcker vortex and redeemed its image by acting tough on the members of Parliament in the cash-for-question scandal. The party was looking forward to wipe the slate clean and begin anew by asserting its pro-people agenda at the Hyderabad plenary and strengthening the ministerial team at the Centre. But the fresh jolt has unnerved the party and the Government, where the allies too won't feel happy about such decisions.

01-14-2006, 10:00 AM

Its news for me that Volcker scandal is closed issue. Without any investigation they close every scandal, de-freeze account and keep criminal minister but punish opposition MP.

Mera Bharat Mahan.

01-14-2006, 09:49 PM

'Unite against Congress to save democracy'
http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_1598685,0008.htm

Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, January 14, 2006

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday expressed his dissatisfaction with findings of an official investigation into the phone-tapping scandal and called for a non-Congress alliance to "save democracy".

Yadav and the general secretary of his Samajwadi Party Amar Singh, rejected Home Secretary VK Duggal's statement that there was no political motive behind the tapping of their phone.

Singh ridiculed Duggal's statement, based on the investigation carried out by Delhi Police, that the phone tapping was a private sting operation with an eye on monetary gains.

"There is no sting operation involving phone tapping. Sting operations usually have visuals," Singh told reporters.

Singh has repeatedly pointed an accusing finger at Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the phone tapping, though he did not drag her name on Saturday.

Yadav added that a Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh was probing the case to find out on whose instructions their phones were being tapped.

"When I came to know that those behind the tapping are now probing it, I ordered the STF to investigate the matter," Yadav said.

The SP duo likened today's political situation with that prevailing during the emergency rule of 1975-1977.

"We would like to alert all non-Congress political parties that we need to unite against the undemocratic ways of this government," Yadav said.

"Ever since this government came into power, they have been targeting their political rivals instead of concentrating on developmental issues. There is no governance," the Chief Minister alleged.

Joining his leader, Singh said: "My phones were tapped only to find out our political moves. They want to know what I was talking to N Chandrababu Naidu, Badal and others."

The SP leaders were accompanied by Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former Punjab chief minister Parakash Singh Badal, who also accused the Congress of tapping his phone ever since he was voted out of power.

01-15-2006, 02:55 AM

The last statement is exactly my thought (not the honourable part). That Manmohan Singh is utterly shameless. I think in his zeal to prove himself as some sort of political player he is overlooking dangerous signs in which he is overridden by his ministers time and again who obviously are pleasing the right authority in Sonia Gandhi. Manmohan Singh callously disregards valid opposition demands thinking it is all politically motivated while being naively oblivious to his own irrelevance.

It's a shame PM is clueless

QUOTEIt's a shame PM is clueless

Swapan Dasgupta

Some two decades ago, while setting a question paper for undergraduates, a crusty Oxford don drew me aside and offered a piece of advice. The purpose of an examination, he remarked, is to find out what students know, not what they don't know.Â Â Â

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is well past the stage of writing examinations. Yet, if his performance as the head of the executive is to be assessed, it is likely to pose a few problems for the examiners. For the past three months or so, the country has been treated to a dhobi list of subjects about which the Prime Minister knows nothing. First, there was the Volcker Report and the oil-for-food scandal about which he knew nothing and yet issued a certificate of innocence to the now-disgraced K Natwar Singh.

Then there was the salacious phone-tapping of Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and, presumably, other Opposition leaders, about which he was said to be completely in the dark. And now, we have the curious case of the Prime Minister who was carefully insulated from dramatic developments involving the Bofors case - arguably the most important political corruption case since Independence.

The mystery of what Manmohan Singh does know has deepened in the past week. The facts, as divulged by proverbial "sources" are startling. The Crown Prosecution Service of Britain writes a routine letter asking the Indian Law Ministry whether it wants the freeze on the London bank accounts of Italian businessman Ottavia Quattrocchi, a prime accused in the Bofors bribery case, to be maintained. The matter should routinely have been left to the CBI which deals with these matters. Instead, Law Minister H R Bharadwaj gets into the act, overrules the CBI and sends a law officer to London to tell the CPS that Quattrocchi can have his money back.

The matter is simultaneously taken to the Department of Personnel, which is under the Prime Minister. However, instead of referring the matter to the Prime Minister, Minister of State Suresh Pachauri and Bharadwaj together decide that there is no "evidence" against Quattrocchi and he must be allowed to have access to his millions. Worse, the Prime Minister apparently learns of this important political decision while surfing TV channels.

To be fair, the reconstruction of events is based entirely on "sources". So far, neither the Prime Minister nor his official spokesman has responded to Arun Jaitley's advice that "if he was unaware, then it is for him to introspect what kind of Government he is heading."

The Prime Minister's silence is revealing. That two important Ministers of the Government believe that it is unimportant to keep the Prime Minister in the loop suggests either of two things. First, that they don't believe his opinion counts one way or the other. Second, that when it comes to a sensitive subject like an Italian fugitive from Indian justice, it is the desire of the "friends" of Quattrocchi that must entertained, even if it involves short-circuiting every rule in the book.

The identity of the all-powerful friends of Quattrocchi is not exactly a secret, although it is being disingenuously suggested that even they were unaware of what Bharadwaj and Pachauri were up to.

The delight of an extra-Constitutional authority is that it cannot be pinned down. There are no tell-tale notings in the files that can be unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act. Nor does anyone have the gumption to say that they did what did in the belief that it would please the invisible hand that controls the government.

The Government of Britain works on the quaint principle that the Queen can do no wrong. In India, there is no formal monarchy but here, too, the Queen can do no wrong. To uphold the principle, even the Prime Minister has to end up openly proclaiming that he is a cipher whose writ doesn't run in his own office. Even honourable men should not be devoid of shame.

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