10-11-2006, 12:23 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>CBI hears master's voice, does it again </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
The FIR against former defence minister George Ferandes in defence deals follows the familiar pattern of the CBI acting as the glove puppet of the UPA Government.
Fernandes' trenchant criticism of the Government for manipulating the investigating agency may sound obvious, but the track record of the CBI will only ensure that such allegations do stick.
<b>Since the UPA Government assumed power at the Centre, a series of decisions taken by the CBI has directly and indirectly favoured the political interest of the Congress and come in handy for it to settle political scores with its rivals.</b>
<b>The most glaring case of the Congress-CBI nexus was seen in the way the two conspired to allow defreezing of the London bank accounts of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors scandal.</b>
It is well known that Additional Solicitor General B Dutta went personally to London in connection with the defreezing and the whole exercise was coordinated by the Law Ministry and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Despite the uproar, Law Minister HR Bhardwaj had defended the decision to defreeze the accounts.
In the backdrop of Quattrocchi's links with the Congress leadership, the favour doled out to him by the CBI was an obvious example of the agency doing the bidding of the Government.
Similarly, Satish Sharma, also known for his links with the top Congress leadership was bailed out by the CBI in the petrol pump allotment case. Soon after the UPA Government came to power, the CBI filed a closure report in the case relating to misuse of the Minister's discretionary quota in allotment. <b>The court was left with little option but to discharge the former Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and others in all 15 criminal cases</b>.
In its closure report filed in November 2004, the CBI had informed the court that it decided to close the cases because the Union Ministry for Home Affairs had refused to give sanction for prosecution of Capt Sharma.
The CBI tried the same trick in the Rs 175 cr Taj Corridor scam to protect BSP leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati. The agency, in fact, tried to altogether drop the case against her, but failed in its design when the Supreme Court took up the matter.
Last month, <b>the CBI kicked up another political row when it slapped two corruption cases against BJP leader Maneka Gandhi. An angry Maneka accused the CBI of acting under pressure of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.</b>
<b>The CBI's track record in dealing with the fodder scam cases , where RJD chief Lalu Prasad, is a prime accused, has also been a subject of criticism and litigation. </b>
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Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
The FIR against former defence minister George Ferandes in defence deals follows the familiar pattern of the CBI acting as the glove puppet of the UPA Government.
Fernandes' trenchant criticism of the Government for manipulating the investigating agency may sound obvious, but the track record of the CBI will only ensure that such allegations do stick.
<b>Since the UPA Government assumed power at the Centre, a series of decisions taken by the CBI has directly and indirectly favoured the political interest of the Congress and come in handy for it to settle political scores with its rivals.</b>
<b>The most glaring case of the Congress-CBI nexus was seen in the way the two conspired to allow defreezing of the London bank accounts of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors scandal.</b>
It is well known that Additional Solicitor General B Dutta went personally to London in connection with the defreezing and the whole exercise was coordinated by the Law Ministry and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Despite the uproar, Law Minister HR Bhardwaj had defended the decision to defreeze the accounts.
In the backdrop of Quattrocchi's links with the Congress leadership, the favour doled out to him by the CBI was an obvious example of the agency doing the bidding of the Government.
Similarly, Satish Sharma, also known for his links with the top Congress leadership was bailed out by the CBI in the petrol pump allotment case. Soon after the UPA Government came to power, the CBI filed a closure report in the case relating to misuse of the Minister's discretionary quota in allotment. <b>The court was left with little option but to discharge the former Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and others in all 15 criminal cases</b>.
In its closure report filed in November 2004, the CBI had informed the court that it decided to close the cases because the Union Ministry for Home Affairs had refused to give sanction for prosecution of Capt Sharma.
The CBI tried the same trick in the Rs 175 cr Taj Corridor scam to protect BSP leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati. The agency, in fact, tried to altogether drop the case against her, but failed in its design when the Supreme Court took up the matter.
Last month, <b>the CBI kicked up another political row when it slapped two corruption cases against BJP leader Maneka Gandhi. An angry Maneka accused the CBI of acting under pressure of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.</b>
<b>The CBI's track record in dealing with the fodder scam cases , where RJD chief Lalu Prasad, is a prime accused, has also been a subject of criticism and litigation. </b>
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