Author: Mihir Srivastava
Publication: Indian Today
Date: August 1, 2011
URL: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/cash-for-votes-scam-haunts-amar-singh-congress/1/145822.html
Introduction: The 2008 cash-for-votes scam
returns to rock a tottering government. The money trail could lead right to
the top of the congress party.
The man who saved UPA I could well bring down
UPA II. As the Delhi Police get ready to interrogate former Samajwadi Party
general secretary Amar Singh in the cash-for-votes scam, the Congress leadership
is worried about what he might reveal. Police sources have confirmed that
they have enough evidence to link Singh to a pay-off that may have saved the
government in a 2008 trust vote in Parliament on the civil nuclear deal. Three
BJP MPs had walked into the Lok Sabha with two canvas bags of money and accused
Singh of engineering defections on July 28, 2008. But the police need the
Thakur leader to reveal on whose advice he was acting.
As it gears up for a contentious monsoon session,
the credibility challenged Manmohan Singh Government could walk into another
corruption scandal. In March, when the issue resurfaced via a Wikileak cable,
the prime minister had assured the Lok Sabha that "none from the Congress
Party or the Government indulged in any such unlawful act during the trust
vote in 2008." If the cash trail leads right to the Congress headquarters,
there could be a crisis much worse than the one that faced P.V. Narasimha
Rao in 1993 when he won a no-confidence motion by allegedly bribing Jharkhand
Mukti Morcha MPs.
According to police sources, former BJP Yuva
Morcha activist Suhail Hindustani and Singh's former PA Sanjeev Saxena, both
in police custody, have claimed that Singh provided the cash. The ever vocal
Hindustani has also implicated Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh in the scandal. "Those close to the Prime Minister called
me and even from 10 Janpath, he told the media as he was being taken away
for questioning by crime branch sleuths.
Ever since Saxena's arrest, Singh has gone
underground. The man who addressed six press conferences in one day when the
scandal broke, is now avoiding the media. In political wilderness after leaving
the Samajwadi Party, he still has the power to embarrass Congress heavy-weights.
However, while Singh is likely to be interrogated, legal experts are not sure
whether he can be arrested as his role so far has allegedly been that of a
backroom operator while both Hindustani and Saxena star in the tapes recorded
during the sting operation. Neither does Congress leader Ahmed Patel make
an appearance on tape. The BJP for its part maintains that it was merely conducting
a sting operation to expose horse-trading.
The Delhi Police were nudged into action by
upa's favourite bug-bear, the Supreme Court. While hearing a petition filed
by former Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyndoh, the court had observed
last week, "Are our investigating agencies so inefficient that after
two years, no headway has been made in a simple case?" Because of the
politically sensitive nature of the case, the police had made no serious attempts
to conduct investigations until now even though a parliamentary committee
had finalised its report in December 2008. The committee, headed by Kishore
Chandra Deo, had stated in its report that it could not come to any conclusion
whether "Shri Sanjeev Saxena who delivered the money to the said three
members was an emissary of or at the instance of Amar Singh."
After the court censure, the police arrested
Saxena, who is seen in the footage recorded by CNN-IBN, delivering a briefcase
full of cash to three BJP MPs. He is also shown dialling a number from his
mobile and getting two of the MPs speak to someone believed to be Singh. The
phone records confirming this conversation are with the Delhi Police. This
conversation is also part of the depositions before the Parliamentary committee
by two BJP MPs, Ashok Argal and Faggan Singh Kilaste.
Hindustani, who claims to be the link between
BJP MPs and Singh, has been already detained under the Prevention of Corruption
Act, 1998. According to sources, he has also accused Singh of having sent
the bribe of Rs 3 crore for the three BJP MPs. Says a legal expert, "Even
if it's proved that this was a 'whistle-blower' operation conceived and implemented
by the BJP, it does not take away from the culpability of the UPA."
This is the grey area that the UPA hopes to
exploit as a loophole. For now, all that Congress spokesman Manish Tewari
has to offer is a cop-out. "The investigation is going on in this matter
and it is not appropriate to speculate," he says. No Congress leader
makes an appearance on the tapes.
The police will question Samajwadi Party MP
Reoti Raman Singh, Argal and L.K. Advani's former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni,
who confesses that he organised the sting operation to trap the bribe-givers.
This is not the end of Singh's troubles. Vishwanath
Chaturvedi, a petitioner from Lucknow, who had filed a disproportionate asset
case against Mulayam Singh Yadav, has provided information to the crime branch
on the alleged motive behind Singh's desire to give a safe passage to UPA
during the 2008 trust vote. "The fact that government took a 'U-turn'
in the disproportionate asset case against Yadav as a reward for their support
is well-known," says Chaturvedi. He adds, "Amar Singh was also in
favour of the Civil Nuclear Bill."
Chaturvedi says he has provided documents
to the Delhi police that show that Singh was camping in the US in June 2008,
and was in touch with American businessmen who were to become prospective
major suppliers after the passage of the nuclear deal. Chaturvedi claims he
has documentary proof to show that Singh donated $1-$5 million to Clinton
Foundation during that time, allegedly through hawala channels in violation
of Section 3 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 2000. The RBI has confirmed
that "no remittance under reference was allowed by us." The RBI
has further advised Chaturvedi that "regarding remittance through hawala,
you may approach the Directorate of Enforcement."
"This shows who Amar Singh was batting
for," alleges Chaturvedi. His allegations will become an important point
in the investigation against Singh who will have to account for this money.
The source of the Rs 3 crore paid as bribe to the MPs is also to be determined.
Singh's former aide Saxena is believed to have told the Delhi Police that
he was just a courier, and had no information about where the money was sourced
from.
Now the question before the investigating
agencies is: Did Singh make the bid to rescue the upa on his own or was he
acting at the behest of the Congress? It all depends on what he finally reveals.
