Azad targets Congress ministers too
Azad targets Congress ministers too
Asserting that his fight was against corruption in sports bodies and not directed at any individual, suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad on Monday rejected his party’s argument that a SFIO probe had found no scam in Delhi and District Cricket Association affairs and sought a comprehensive probe by Central agencies, including the CBI and ED.
The Delhi government, meanwhile, rejected the BJP’s stand that Union finance minister Arun Jaitley was given a clean chit by an inquiry committee it had appointed to investigate alleged irregularities in DDCA affairs, which was headed by him for around 13 years till 2013. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal made it clear he would not apologise for targeting Mr Jaitley as his government’s panel had not given anyone a clean chit. He chastised the BJP for “almost begging” for an apology from the AAP for targeting Mr Jaitley, who he claimed was “running away” from the investigation initiated by the Delhi government.
While promising a fair probe into the alleged DDCA irregularities, senior advocate Gopal Subramanium has informed the Delhi CM that the inquiry commission set up by the city government was legally valid. He also said that in order to ensure transparency, all proceedings of the commission will be telecast live so that the whole world could see how the panel was tackling the issue.
In a letter to Mr Kejriwal, Mr Subramanium accepted the offer to head the one-man commission and also disputed the reported stand of Delhi lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung that the commission appointed by the Delhi government was not legally valid as it has to be done only with the Centre’s approval. In his opinion, Mr Subramanium said it would also be contrary to the Constitution that a democratically-elected body, that was empowered by the Constitution to deal with matters within the State List as well as the Concurrent List, could not set up a commission of inquiry.
As for the live telecast, Mr Subramanium in his letter of December 27 pointed out that in many parts of the world where court proceedings have been televised, such as in Britain and Canada, the judiciary has only stood to gain by being utterly transparent.
Meanwhile, making it clear that he was not targeting Mr Jaitley, the suspended BJP MP sought to drag Congress leaders into the row, alleging that the previous UPA government did not take action as many of its nominees were working as DDCA directors and were “party to the wrongdoing and remiss in their duties”.
“Without due diligence crores of rupees were transferred in bank accounts having fake addresses. It was a monumental fraud as the same people for the same work were paid again and again. I have evidence I fail to understand where I have targeted the finance minister. I have said nothing against the party. I have always been a loyal soldier. But I will continue to fight against corruption. The CBI and probe agencies like the ED and DRI should carry out an extensive inquiry into DDCA affairs,” said the suspended BJP MP.
On the SFIO’s findings, he said: “The SFIO committee only saw the papers that were given to them. It did not go into finding out whether the companies that were paid several crores of rupees even existed.” He also alleged that many firms were involved in pocketing money running into crores of rupees and were “linked” with DDCA officials.
