Memorandum against the inclusion of some Ministers in the Council of Ministers headed by Shri Manmohan Singh who are accused and charge sheeted in serious cases of corruption, abuse of power and other serious crimes.
Mahamahim Rashtrapati ji,
The Council of Ministers
headed by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh includes many Ministers whose
induction has given rise to serious concern about probity in the public life of
the country. A time-tested precedent followed substantially in the country that
a person accused / charge sheeted / facing trial in cases relating to
corruption, abuse of power, mafia related crime should not occupy any office
have been completely sacrificed at the altar of political expediency. It is not
a case of condoning but rewarding corrupt deeds for the sake of acquisition of
power. It is a serious issue of upholding the well-established norms of
constitutional propriety, and democratic traditions, which requires your
interference. Many of the Ministers are facing trial too as is being enumerated
below.
1.
He is charge sheeted and facing trial in a number of
cases in the notorious Fodder scam of Bihar involving misappropriation of
hundreds of crores of public money. In consequence of a
public interest litigation the Patna High court in March 1996 directed
the C.B.I to investigate all these cases. The State of Bihar filed appeal in
the Supreme Court which was also rejected and the Supreme Court directed the
entire investigation to be undertaken under the monitoring of the Patna High
Court and that expeditious follow up be taken so that
no evidence may be lost. (The judgment
is reported in 1996 volume 3 Supreme Court cases page 682).
2.
The point to note is that all this was done and the
investigation commenced, resultant action followed when the Congress or the
Congress supported Government of Shri H.D. Deve Gowda or Shri I.K.Gujral were
in power in Delhi. These governments had support of the group headed by Shri
Laloo Prasad is emphasized to obviate any plea of political prosecution.
3.
Shri Laloo
Prasad in the wake of his impending arrest resigned as chief Minster and twice
he remained in jail for a long duration .He has remained on bail since .In many
cases trial is going on and no court ever has stayed any proceeding against
him.
Fodder Scam:
1. R.C20 (A)/96 - Treasury
Chaibasa
Fraudulent
Withdrawal - Rs. 37,30,39,743/-
Trial is
on. More than 180 P.W.S examined.
2. R.C 38 (A)/96 -
Dumka Treasury
Rs.3,
76,38,853/-
(Charged
Sheet Filed) Trial Pending
3. R.C 47 (A)/96 - Treasury Doranda, Ranchi
Fraudulent
Withdrawal Rs .182 crores
(Charge
sheet already submitted) Trial Pending
4. R.C 63 (A)/96 -
Bhagalpur Treasury
Rs.45
lacs (Charge Sheet submitted) Trial Pending
5. R.C 64 (A)/96 - Treasury
Dumka
Rs
95 lacs (Charge Sheet Submitted) Trial Pending
6. R.C 5(A)/96 -
Treasury Chaibasa
Rs
37 .63 Crores (Charge Sheet Submitted)
Trial
Pending
7. R.C 5(A)/98 -
Spl.Case No.5/98-D.A.Case
Disproportionate
amount Rs .42 lacs
Evidence closed (132 PW and 94 DW
examined)
Final argument commenced from first week of May.
Md. Taslimuddin (M.O.S)
He was
also a Minister of State Home Affairs in the government of Shri Deve Gowda in
the year 1996 when late Shri Indrajeet Gupta was the Home Minister. When his
criminal antecedents and involvement in various cases became known and the
matter was highlighted he was removed from that cabinet. Yet he has been
included again though long list of cases including serious crime like attempt
to Murder, cheating forgery etc .are enough to make his continuance seriously
vulnerable.
The details are as follows -: (As per
own affidavit filed along with his nomination papers) :
-
a) Araria PS 40/86-341/342/323/307/504/506/379/34 IPC Assault, attempt to commit murder and snatching valuables by wrongful confinement.
b)
Araria PS 42 /86 147 /148/149/307/341/353/332/504
IPC Attempt to commit murder and assault to public servant to deter him
performance of his duty by framing unlawful Assembly.
c)
Araria PS 45/86-409/420/467/468/471/120(B) IPC to Commit
cheating and possessing forged documents
d)
Araria PS 375/96 147/148
/149 /307 IPC 27 Arms Act & 3/4 Explosive substance Act Attempt to
commit murder by framing an unlawful Assembly using firearms and
explosives
e)
Kishanganj 700c/98 u/s 147/447 /323 /328
/327/384/109/347/379/120(B) /34 IPC making unlawful assembly to committee
theft, assault, mischief & Extortion.
f)
Araria PS 19/82-144 /188 IPC violation of
prohibitory order u/s 144 cr pc
g)
Araria PS 133/82-309/34 IPC-Attempt to commit
suicide by hunger strike.
h)
Araria PS 53/85 147/448/323/337/426 IPC to commit
assault and mischief by framing unlawful assembly.
i)
Araria 83c/87-500 IPC-Defamation
Note :-
In the list are included cases of 1996 & 1998 as well when his own party
RJD is in power in Bihar. There are some other cases against him as well.
Shri Jaiprakash Yadav was a Minister of Minor Irrigation in the government of Smt. Rabri Devi when on 03/05/2000 the vigilance department of Bihar government made him an accused in vigilance PS case no. 12/2000 under sections 13 (1) and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 477 A, 109 and 120 B of the IPC. It was alleged that as the Secondary Education Minister he entered into a conspiracy to give approval/ permission to a College at Katihar which was found to be absolutely against the rules. The said College allegedly earned huge amount by giving fake degrees of Bachelor of Education.
His anticipatory bail was rejected
even by the Supreme Court and in view of his impending arrest he had to resign
as a Minister in Bihar. Even after coming out of jail he was not taken back in
the Bihar government. The case in pending for Trial.
Against him a case of
serious crime being special CBI case no. 5(S)/96 under sections 120B, 302, 201
and 364 IPC is pending for trial. Another case under section
under section 13 of PC Act being case no. CC 3/4 is pending in the Special Court of
CBI, New Delhi. This fact has been stated by him in his own affidavit filed
before the Returning Officer, Dumka from where he has been elected.
Note: Against
the above Ministers there are specific criminal cases pending relating to serious crimes. However there
are two more Ministers against whom there are allegations in various records,
which make their continuance as Ministers Government of India seriously
vulnerable. These are as follows:
Shri
Fatimi was a Member of Parliament from Darbhanga constituency in the year 1998.
There was a sensational case of kidnapping for ransom being L.N. Mithila
University, PS case no. 133/98 dt. 03/10/98
under section 364 A of the IPC.
The
then S.P., Darbhanga Smt.Shobha Ahotkar has supervised the said case and
submitted her supervision report no. 2 vide memo no. 3857 dt.
30/11/98. In the said report she has noted the
link of Shri Fatimi with a whole gang of inter state kidnappers syndicate, who
were in frequent telephonic conversation with Shri Fatimi. In the said report
the telephone no. of Shri Fatimi and the date and duration of conversation was
also mentioned. In the said report it was also noted that one
of the kidnappers Fazlur Rahman was a notorious criminal who indulges into
international crimes as well and was a part of the Irfan
Goga and Babloo Shrivastava gang. She further noted
that one of the accused involved in the kidnapping racket named Atikur Rahman
was given fax machine by Shri Fatimi. In the report it was clearly noted that
various gang of kidnapping and extortion syndicate from different part of the
country were in frequent touch with Shri Fatimi. The
S.P. in her report also directed the investigating officer to examine the role
of Shri Fatimi in greater detail and interrogate him.
It
is relevant to note that there after the S.P. Smt. Shobha Ahotkar came under
serious threat of this gang, which was also confirmed under Police reports
submitted to Police Headquarters. She was given additional security in view of
serious threat to her life. However the fact remains that under political
pressure no action was taken on these highly sensitive reports and the S.P.
herself was transferred.
It
is highly desirable that the entire follow up in this sensitive case including
the role of Shri Fatimi be examined afresh and Shri Fatimi be removed.
Against him serious case of
foreign exchange violation was detected for illegal exchange of $ 4.725
million. The Enforcement Directorate also examined his role in connection with
alleged payment made to him of a huge amount of about Rs. 1 crore by one of the
fodder scam accused as was deposed in the C.BI. Special Court
of Patna. The Enforcement Directorate imposed a penalty of Rs. 10 crores
on Shri Gupta which is presently pending in appeal before the Tribunal. It may
be noted that on 21/04/1998 the income tax department raided six business and
residential premises of Shri Premchand Gupta in connection with investigation
into the Fodder and Bitumen scam of Bihar. All this has been widely reported in
newspapers as well. The point to note is with such a record how can he continue in the Ministry much less in the Department
of Company Affairs is a question to be pondered.
The profile of some of the above Ministers clearly
show that for the sake of power sound democratic
traditions has been completely given a go by. Proceedings in
none of the criminal cases mentioned against the above Ministers has
been stayed by any court. There is no such mention as well in the affidavit
filed along with the nomination paper. As the President of India Your Goodself
is the keeper of Constitutional conscience. We therefore request your kind
intervention so that constitutional probity and time tested democratic
traditions may not be broken with impunity as has been done. The entire nation
looks up to you.
We therefore urge Your Excellency to kindly take up
the issue with the Honble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and ensure that
the above tainted Ministers are out of Government in the larger interest of
Parliamentary democracy, public interest, national security and norms of pobity
in public life.