Bharat Rakshak

shyamd wrote:Once all this heats up, its time to launch a nationwide anti corruption march to really turn the heat up on the government. This will force some serious laws to be put in place. India is ready for the next phase. But the people need to do the needful in a mass movement to say no to corruption.

On the face of things, Reliance Power’s request that it be allowed to divert around 24 million tonnes of excess coal it has—in the mine attached to the Tilaiya Ultra Mega Power Plant (UMPP)—to other power projects it hopes to win in Jharkhand is a good idea. The government-owned Coal India Ltd is notoriously inefficient, so it is obvious Reliance Power’s plants in Jharkhand will be a lot more competitive if they’re run on coal extracted by Reliance Power instead of coal mined by Coal India. Since Reliance Power has committed that the power that will be generated from using this excess UMPP coal will be sold through tariff-based competitive bidding, it seems a win-win case for all concerned. Based on the coal the Tilaiya UMPP needs (16 million tonnes), the mines attached to the 4,000 MW plant have around 24 million tonnes of extra coal, and that can be used to fire up another 6,000 MW of power in Jharkhand. While the move will benefit the power-starved Jharkhand, it will also help cement Reliance Power’s growth plans in the power sector—cheaper coal will give it the added advantage since, from now on, power can be purchased from new plants only on the basis of a single-tariff bid (in the past, a firm bid only on the tariff for its capital costs while the cost of fuel was a pass-through, and had to be paid for by the buyer).

The problem, however, is that Reliance Power’s proposal for Tilaiya is remarkably similar to what happened in the case of the Sasan UMPP—in that case, too, Reliance Power got permission to use the extra coal (all the time ensuring the needs of the Sasan UMPP were fully met) for its other plants and the power produced from this was to be sold through tariff-based bidding. And, in the Sasan case, the Tatas have taken the government to the Supreme Court for giving permission to divert the UMPP’s coal after the project had been bid out—the Tatas went to the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court dismissed their plea. The argument is a simple one: had other bidders known the UMPP coal could be used in other power plants, they would have bid higher prices for the UMPPs since they would then take into account the profits they’d make in other power plants by using the lower-cost UMPP coal. At a time when the government’s attempt is to try and find ways to minimise government discretion, the last thing it wants to be accused of is abuse of discretion. It would be a good idea, in future projects, to formally allow using excess coal in other plants instead of allowing this later. Pre-bid transparency has to be the name of the game. Else this will become the next 2G scam

Moreover, during the period of the transaction between December 2008 and August 2009, the paid-up equity of Kalaignar TV was merely Rs.10.01 crore, and its entire income for the year ending March 31, 2009 Rs.47.54 crore.

As per reports, Wednesday, the PAC headed by BJP leader MM Joshi has blamed the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for failing to bring the alleged irregularities committed by former Telecom Minister A Raja in allocation of 2G spectrum licenses to the knowledge of Prime Minister Dr Singh.

The new PAC, in which Joshi will continue to be the chairperson, will take charge on May 1 and is set to carry on the probe into the anomalies in 2G spectrum allocation.

PAC draft report puts cong in a tizzy,it indicts PMO&FM,so cong is doing wat it's best @, influence the 2 BSP & SP members..carrot or stick

Aditya_V wrote:Deal reached on PAC scam

PM clean, PMO under scanner: PAC on 2G

As per reports, Wednesday, the PAC headed by BJP leader MM Joshi has blamed the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for failing to bring the alleged irregularities committed by former Telecom Minister A Raja in allocation of 2G spectrum licenses to the knowledge of Prime Minister Dr Singh.

Here's the crux of the compromise

The new PAC, in which Joshi will continue to be the chairperson, will take charge on May 1 and is set to carry on the probe into the anomalies in 2G spectrum allocation.

Pranay wrote:

shyamd wrote:Once all this heats up, its time to launch a nationwide anti corruption march to really turn the heat up on the government. This will force some serious laws to be put in place. India is ready for the next phase. But the people need to do the needful in a mass movement to say no to corruption.

Baba Ramdev seems to have heard your thoughts... check out the Youtube link posted by Acharya in the Anna Hazare / Lokpal Bill thread... Here it is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXgJbghfkWo

Delhi is going to be busy on June 4...

SSridhar wrote:Nobody wants to blame Shri Man Mohan Singh. Even Subramaniam Swamy.

Clock ticking for Robert Wadra, Arun Shourie and Maya Wati. Roughly sixty days from today.

Ask BJP Party. Whole party knows what is happening to Arun Shourie these days.

http://twitter.com/#!/viishvabandhu

The PAC has seven representatives from the Congress, four from BJP, two each from AIADMK and DMK, and one each from Shiv Sena, BJD, JD (U), SP, BSP and CPI(M).

Sanku wrote:Mayawati? Secular? She is probably being held hostage if she agrees!!

Nobody wants to blame Shri Man Mohan Singh. Even Subramaniam Swamy.

And the latest high profile target is one of the biggest fish of all, Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, currently #9 on Forbes list of the World's Most Powerful People.

Sonia Gandhi has one of the most remarkable life stories in international politics. Born Edvige Antonia Albina Maino into a family of modest means in rural Italy, she didn't even get a chance to complete high school before heading to the UK for work. There she met Rajiv Gandhi, son of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She eventually married him and the young family moved in to Indira Gandhi's New Delhi's home, putting her literally in the heart of Indian politics.

After Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984, Sonia's husband Rajiv became Prime Minister. Following Rajiv's 1991 assassination by Tamil terrorists, there were rumors that Sonia was going to put herself forward as Prime Minister.

As she herself later said, she "could not walk past the portraits of my husband, my mother-in-law and her father and not feel that I had some responsibility to try and save the party they had given their lives to."



Given her focus on the party, it was fitting that instead of becoming Prime Minister, she ended up as President of the powerful Congress Party. Politically, it proved to be a smart move as it gave her power without direct responsibility -- while she is #9 on Forbes list of power people, the actual Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, is only #18. According to Forbes, "Gandhi remains the real power behind the nuclear-tipped throne [...] she has cemented her status as true heiress to the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty."

Her image is of a dutiful, submissive Indian wife, now widow. When her husband was alive, she would walk behind him. In public she wears saris. Although a devout Catholic, she is often photographed at Hindu Temples. And like a good Indian mother, though she has decorously pulled herself out of the race for Prime Minister, she is happy to encourage her son, Rahul, to take the job.

However there have been growing, persistent murmurs about questionable business deals and inexplicable exponential jumps in the personal wealth of her and her family.

The allegations came out in the open in 1995 when M. D. Nalapat, then Resident Editor (Delhi) of the world's largest English language newspaper, the Times of India, began a groundbreaking series of articles about Sonia.

The articles made the controversial (at the time) claim that the public docility was just a ploy, and that Sonia actually had serious political ambitions (later confirmed by her role in Congress). Also, crucially, the series said that her desire for power wasn't simply altruistic and that the wealth not only of her, but of her Italian relatives, rose stratospherically after Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1984.

Nalapat's articles could not be ignored as he was one of India's most respected journalists and had, throughout his career, taken on corrupt politicians, social inequity and institutionalized discrimination.

This however was a 'topic too far'. While the facts in the article were never refuted, Nalapat was forced out of journalism in 1998 and moved into academics.

Next came public questions from another highly reputed source, Sten Lindstrom, Sweden's special prosecutor investigating the pay-offs associated with the sale of weapons by Bofors to the government of India. His investigation showed that a close friend of Sonia's, Ottavio Quattrocchi, has received kickbacks in the millions.

In 1998 Lindstrom gave an interview in which he said:

the Gandhis, particularly now Sonia, should explain how Quattrocchi-owned companies got such fat sums as payoffs from the Bofors deal. After all, what is the connection of Sonia and the Gandhi family to Quattrocchi? Who introduced Quattrocchi and his AE Services to Bofors? At least one thing is certainly known now. A part of the payoffs definitely went to Quattrocchi. [...] the papers all pointed to the Gandhi family.
Not only have the questions not been answered by Sonia, but in spite of substantial evidence against him, Quattrocchi has managed to evade prosecution in India, and has even had his kickback funds unfrozen from overseas accounts.

Part of the genius of Sonia Gandhi is her ability to present herself as a helpless victim, convincing even her political rivals not to fear her as she is fatally flawed. In 1998, India was being led by BJP Prime Minister Vajpayee. When Nalapat spoke with him about Sonia, he was bluntly told to lay off, as, "so long as a white Christian lady is head of the Congress Party, I [Vajpayee] and my party will always be in power". Vajpayee and his party lost power to Sonia's Congress in 2004.

But the most serious threat to Sonia -- and, as she is at the apex of the Congress Party, and so to Congress itself -- is now lying on the desk of #18, the Prime Minister of India.

On April 15, former Law and Justice Minister and Harvard Professor Dr. Subramanian Swamy asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for leave to lay corruption charges against Sonia Gandhi. In a meticulously researched 200+ page submission Dr Swamy alleges Sonia Gandhi has been involved in corruption in India since 1972 and personally benefited from the Bofors scam (1986), has held billions in non-Indian bank accounts since at least 1991, illegally profited from the Iraqi oil-for-food deals (2002), and even accessed KGB payoffs during the Cold War.

The Prime Minister has three months to decide whether or not to grant sanction to prosecute. If he doesn't, Dr. Swamy can take the case directly to the Supreme Court, which under Chief Justice Kapadia is showing a definite proclivity towards facilitating corruption cases.

While, so far, the corruption cases in India have caught up some pretty big fish, if charges are laid against Sonia Gandhi, it won't just be part of a wave, it will be a sea change.

Sonia Gandhi is not just an individual, she is the steely core of a pillar of Indian politics. If she crumbles, it will shake the foundations of the venerable Congress Party, and possibly leave a gaping hole in the political scene. Meanwhile, a range of polarizing and regional parties are ready to rush in and stake their claim. Given the growing importance of India in our heavily globalized world, this is not just an Indian story, this is one all should be following very closely indeed.

RamaY wrote:Looks like MMS is BJP's PM not INC's PM

India Puts Tight Leash On Internet Free Speech
By VIKAS BAJAJ
Published: April 27, 2011

MUMBAI, India — Free speech advocates and Internet users are protesting new Indian regulations restricting Web content that, among other things, can be considered “disparaging,” “harassing,” “blasphemous” or “hateful.”

The new rules, quietly issued by the country’s Department of Information Technology earlier this month and only now attracting attention, allow officials and private citizens to demand that Internet sites and service providers remove content they consider objectionable on the basis of a long list of criteria.

“These rules overly favor those who want to clamp down on freedom of expression,” Mr. Abraham said. “Whenever there are limits of freedom of expression, in order for those limits to be considered constitutionally valid, those limits have to be clear and not be very vague. Many of these rules that seek to place limits are very, very vague.”

An official for the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, an advocacy group based in New Delhi, said on Wednesday that it was considering a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the new rules.

“What are we, Saudi Arabia?” said Pushkar Raj, the group’s general secretary. “We don’t expect this from India. This is something very serious.”

An official at the Department of Information Technology, Gulshan Rai, did not return calls and messages.

suryag wrote:Guys how do you take Manish Tiwari, I cant stand him, he is so irritating

suryag wrote:Guys how do you take Manish Tiwari, I cant stand him, he is so irritating

April 15,2011
PRESS RELEASE
Dr.Subramanian Swamy, Janata Party President and former Union Cabinet Minister for Law &Justice, today submitted a Petition of 206 pages, seeking from the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh the required Sanction to prosecute Ms. Sonia Gandhi under Sections 11 & 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Sanction is required under Section 19 of the Act because she is Chairperson of the National Advisory Council with Cabinet rank.
In his Petition to the PM, Dr.Swamy has made out a prima facie case on documentary circumstantial evidence that Ms.Gandhi abetted Italian businessman and close family friend Ottavio Quattrocchi to obtain an illegal commission in the Bofors Gun Purchase deal, and then influenced the government of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao to enable Mr. Quattrocchi to escape from the country in July 1993. Thereafter she directed the Union Law Minister in 2005 to enable Mr. Quattrocchi to get his London accounts de-frozen and decamp scot free with over $ 200 million [about Rs 1000 crores].
Dr.Swamy has also made out a prima facie case that Mr. Gandhi has illegally held in Swiss bank accounts illegal monies of about Rs. 10,000 crores received as a legatee in 1991 following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. He also produced an admission on record of the spokesperson of the Russian government that KGB had provided funds to Ms. Gandhi and her family, as also evidence that she had received commissions on Indo-Soviet trade, which were illegal under Indian law.
In his Petition, Dr.Swamy has also catalogued a list of offences prima facie committed by Ms.Sonia Gandhi since 1974 which shows that she is an habitual offender who deserves to be prosecuted and punished.
For Janata Party
(Pran Nath Mago)
PA to Dr.Swamy

1. Ms.Sonia Gandhi MP, wife of the deceased Rajiv Gandhi, was first appointed as Chairperson National Advisory Council [NAC] in May 2004. She resigned in 2006 but was re-appointed by an Order of the Cabinet Secretariat dated March 29, 2010, read with Order dated October 8, 2010 [Annexure 1].
2. As per Order of May 31, 2004 [Annexure 2] the Prime Minister’s Office will provide Central Government funds to meet the expenditure of the NAC, and service the NAC for its secretarial needs. Hence she is a public servant as defined in Section 2 ( c ) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (1988).
3. You, in your capacity as deemed appointing authority are therefore the Designated Authority under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act for granting Sanction to prosecute the said Ms. Sonia Gandhi. As you know, there are no laches or statute of limitations for prosecuting offences of corruption.
4. Your Sanction is required by me for prosecuting Ms. Sonia Gandhi on a private complaint proposed to be filed by me in the criminal court under Prevention of Corruption Act (1988), based on the materials available to me (and enclosed with this letter/application) with reference to two issues:

FIRST ISSUE:
5. Ms.Sonia Gandhi holds office which enables her to give direction to Government departments and Ministries and also call for confidential reports from CBI, and according to the then Union Law Minister, she can even call for files [Annexure 3]. She has been as Chairperson of NAC giving directions to several ministries and departments.
6. It is charged that she obtained for, and colluded with family friend, Mr. Ottavio Quattrocchi—an Interpol Red-Corner Noticee & a proclaimed offender under Indian criminal law, to obtain for him the pecuniary advantage from defreezing of his CBI-frozen account, thus committing offence u/s 13 (1)(d) of the PCA, and also conspired with Quattrocchi to enable him to escape prosecution in Bofors Gun Purchase scam.
7. Bofors scam that occurred in 1986 represents corruption in very high places and the key figure in the scam is Mr. Ottavio Quattrocchi, the Italian family friend and fixer. The then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi was manipulated by Ms.Sonia Gandhi, his Italian born wife, to abet the crime in Bofors gun purchase committed by Quattrocchi against the nation.
8. Ms.Sonia Gandhi stationed Mr.Walter Vinci, her brother-in-law, in Sweden to influence her husband and then Prime Minister, when on a visit to Sweden to finalize the Bofors Deal. Also present in the same hotel was the Italian fixer, small arms supplier, and Snam Progetti agent, Mr. Ottavio Quattrocchi, [who was hailed as the catalyst in the deal by the CBI in their Letters Rogatory documents], and who had in return for a hefty commission prevailed on the Prime Minister to sign the deal before March 31, 1986.
9. Thereafter when the arm of the law began reaching near him, he escaped from India in 1993, then from Malaysia in 2002 via a rigged court judgment obtained by collusion with as yet unnamed parties and from Argentina— by the CBI fudging the records – all achieved under
the influence exerted by Ms. Sonia Gandhi under three different and consenting Prime Ministers.
10. This is further confirmed in the interview conducted by Ranjit Bhushan of Outlook magazine [Annexure 4 ] in 1998 with Mr.Sten Lindstorm, the Chief of the Investigation Division of Swedish National Bureau of Investigation and Special Prosecutor of the Swedish Government into the Bofors payoffs. The Swedish National Audit Bureau which he assisted concluded after an independent probe that bribes had indeed been paid in the Bofors deal.
11. Lindstorm states in the interview, which has not been contradicted by anyone including Ms. Sonia Gandhi, that: “The Bofors Papers all point to the [Sonia] Gandhi family” and further that Ms.Sonia Gandhi should “explain how Quattrocchi-owned companies got such fat sums as payoffs from the Bofors deal.”
12. This report is corroborated by another interview given by Lindstorm to Chitra Subramanian [Indian Express, March 22, 1998] wherein he stated; “All information we had at that time pointed to the Gandhi link—Sonia Gandhi should place her cards on the table. The bribes have been traced to her friend and this is not something out of the blue. This is no coincidence.”
13. Headlines Today is in possession of the written statement of then Intelligence Bureau officer Naresh Chandra Gosain made before CBI Inspector Ghanshyam Rai on March 29 1997. Between 1984 and 1987, Gosain was posted in the Special Protection Group[SPG] of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He was part of the escort team. Between 1987 and 1989, Gosain served as the Personal Security Officer or the PSO of Sonia Gandhi.
14. During the tenure of Prime Minister Deve Gowda in 1997, Gosain deposed before the CBI. This deposition has so far never been made public. Headlines Today dug out this deposition, in which Gosain talks at length about the close family ties between the Gandhis and the Quattrocchis.
15. In his testimony Gosain says, "Mr.Ottavio Quattrocchi and his wife Ms Maria Quattrocchi were very close to Mr Rajiv Gandhi and Mrs Sonia Gandhi. When Shri Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister, Mr. Quattrocchi and his family members used to visit PM house and the family members of Shri Rajiv Gandhi also used to visit the house of Mr.Quattrocchi."
16. He adds: “In the initial period of Prime Ministership of Shri Rajiv Gandhi, the children of Shri Rajiv Gandhi used to stay at Mr.Quattrocchi's house during the foreign visits/domestic visits of the Prime Minister. We used to perform our shift duties at the residence of Mr.Quattrocchi on such occasions. Sometimes, Mrs Sonia Gandhi has also stayed in the house of Mr.Quattrocchi and at that time we used to perform our duties there."
Gosain goes on to add that Mr.Quattrocchi and his wife Maria enjoyed free access to the Prime Minister's house. “At No. 5 & 7 Race Course Road, private cars were not allowed to enter inside the bungalow. Only the ferry cars of SPG, after severe security checks, used to carry such visitors from reception to porch and back. Mr. Quattrocchi and Mrs Maria Quattrocchi were very close to Shri Rajiv Gandhi's family and they got free access to the PM's House.”
He further added: "All visitors to No 5 & 7 Race Course Road were issued passes at the reception near the alighting point. Every time, a card was kept ready for Mr. Quattrocchi and his family members as and when they visited the PM's house. Everybody in SPG posted at PM house knew Mr Quattrocchi and his family members. Hence, there was no question of identifying them."
17. Ottavio Quattrocchi's proximity to the Gandhis is well known. What is also known is this proximity continued even after Quattrocchi began to be linked to the Bofors scandal. What documents show is that despite the cloud of suspicion surrounding Quattrocchi's involvment in the Bofors paybacks, he continued to have unfettered access to 10 Janpath, the residence officially assigned to Ms.Sonia Gandhi, which in itself makes her a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
18. It is important to recollect that by January 25, 1990, a team of CBI officials was already in Switzerland with a list of suspected recipients of the Bofors payback. According to a Frontline magazine story of the time, Ottavio Quattrocchi was the first name on that list. Between 1988 and 1990, the media too carried many stories about the involvement of Quattrocchi as a middleman in the Bofors deal.
19. It is clear from records that Mr.Quattrocchi was the direct beneficiary of bribe payments in the Bofors scam. It is now confirmed by the ITAT Report of the Hon’ble Tolani & Sharma Bench [Annexure 5 ].
The testimony of Mr. Sasi Dharan is crucial in further unravelling the proximity of Quattrocchi to Ms. Sonia Gandhi.. Sasi Dharan worked as a driver in Snam Progetti. Snam Progetti was an Italian public sector giant that was represented in India by Ottavio Quattrocchi. Sasi was Quattrocchi's personal driver. He drove Mercedes No.DIA 6253. In his testimony before the CBI, Sasi details the frequent meetings between the Gandhis with the Quattrocchis.
20. In his testimony Sasi says: "Shri Quattrocchi and Mrs Maria Quattrocchi were very close to Shri Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and his family. I do not know what type of relation they had but Quattrocchi and his wife Maria used to frequently visit the house of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. I knew it since 1985 when I joined service. At that time they used to visit the house of Rajiv Gandhi twice or thrice in a day. Whenever Sonia Gandhi's mother or father visited India, I used to drive them to the house of Quattrocchi. They used to remain there for the whole day and Mrs Maria Quattrocchi would take them for shopping. They used to come to India four or five times in the year."
21. What is clinching is the car log maintained by driver Sasi Dharan. In this log, Sasi details the exact dates when Ottavio Quattrocchi came to meet Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi at 5 and 7 Race Course Road or 10 Janpath. These logs are for the period 1989 to 1993. In this log book, Sasi Dharan has mentioned 41 occasions when Quattrocchi came to meet the Gandhis.
22. It is important to note that the meetings between Ottavio Quattrochi and Sonia Gandhi continued even after the death of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 even as Ms.Sonia Gandhi remained as a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
23. According to Sasi Dharan, Quattrocchi came to 10 Janpath 21 times after May 1991. Considering the long financial dealings of Mr.Quattrocchi since 1976 with LTTE (the assassins of Rajiv Gandhi), this fact is a subject of a future application for sanction as well.
24. Sasi concludes by saying: "Shri Quattrocchi left India on the night of July 29, 1993 and on this day also I had driven him to the airport. At that time he did not have any luggage except one briefcase and he told me he was going for an urgent meeting. Usually, whenever Mr. Quattrocchi wanted the car, he would tell me in advance, but the day he left, he did not tell me (in advance)". Obviously he had notice of his impending arrest by CBI in advance.
25. As a consequence of the misuse of her office and position, Ms. Sonia Gandhi helped Ottavio Quattrocchi not only escape from the country, and in 2005 even to withdraw $ 29 million from his de-frozen accounts and thus let off scot free.
26. Hence, it is prima facie obvious that Ms.Sonia Gandhi had misused her office [ she was Life President in the Government funded Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts Trust(IGNCA Trust) during 1991-2002] and thus a public servant with considerable influence in government to enable Mr. Quattrocchi to escape from India in 1993 and later in 2005 to benefit Mr.Quattrocchi to illegally gain monetarily at the expense of the Consolidated Fund of India, by defreezing his London accounts.

SECOND ISSUE:,
27. This complaint against Sonia Gandhi also includes the corrupt monies held under her control in the tax haven of Switzerland as a legatee of the corrupt money which was banked in the name of her late husband or deposited by her of funds obtained from the erstwhile KGB, the Soviet Union’s Intelligence Agency, or by sale of illegally exported antiques in the country. I retain the right to submit details of other illegal accounts in other havens such as Macao at a later stage in another application to you or before the court.
28. It is well-reported that Sonia Gandhi is the beneficiary of Rajiv Gandhi's estate which includes the corrupt monies continued even now to be held in a tax havens. Why this money is held abroad (even if held as a trust to benefit family members) instead of its being held in India within the Indian financial system to benefit the nation is a question which Ms.Sonia Gandhi must answer.
29. Violations of FEMA have occurred as also under Prevention of Money Laundering Act. In case any transaction on this account which is not reported in the Income Tax Returns, and FCRA is also a violation. There may also be an issue of obtaining RBI prior permission for holding such large sums abroad if it is claimed to be a legitimate account.
30. It is clear that this wealth was not reported in Election Affidavits of Sonia Gandhi & Rahul Gandhi as a beneficiary of the monies so held [Annexure 6]. The total wealth of both Gandhis, as per their election returns, is just Rs 363 lakh, Sonia owns no car. "
31. When Schweizer Illustrierte a prestigious German language Swiss magazine alleged that Rajiv Gandhi held an illegal account in Swiss banks of about US $ 2 billion, neither she nor her son, protested, or sued the magazine, then or later [Annexure 7].
32. When major papers, The Hindu and The Times of India included, had carried in the year 1992 the official confirmation of KGB payments to the Rajiv Gandhi family, adding that the Russian government owned the payments in the disclosures, neither of the two Gandhis challenged or sued them [Annexure 8].
33. Nor did they sue Dr. Yevgenia Albats, a member of the official Commission on KGB Operations set up by President Yeltsin, when she wrote about KGB payments to Rajiv Gandhi and family in her book: The State within State [Annexure 9]
34. More than $ 2 billion in 1991 was being held by Ms. Sonia Gandhi as a legatee, or otherwise obtained by receiving stolen movable and immovable properties, monies and securities, kept illegally in tax haven banks of Switzerland and elsewhere, and which is disproportionate to her known sources of income. She thus has also committed offence u/s 13(1)(e) of PCA. It also attracts the IPC Sections for receiving stolen property.
35. The recent deposition of Hasan Ali, alleged to have siphoned money of the nation to Switzerland secret accounts admits to his close association not only with her but with Mr.Ahmed Patel MP and political adviser to Ms.Sonia Gandhi [Annexure 10 ].
36. Ms. Sonia Gandhi is also obviously culpable under Indian criminal law such as FCRA for the pay offs in the Iraqi Oil-for-Food scam of 2002. The United Nations had set up an independent inquiry committee under Dr. F. Volcker which found that the “Congress Party” headed by Ms. Sonia Gandhi as a beneficiary of a free oil quota from the now deposed and deceased dictator Saddam Hussein, which the beneficiary sold at market price through Marc Rich, the notorious swindler who had been convicted by a US Court for 350 years and several million dollars as fine. He was pardoned by US President Clinton in 2000 on Israeli Prime Minister’s intervention. He lives in Switzerland.

The 2G scam accused and Etisalat DB promoter, Shahid Usman Balwa, on Wednesday asked the special court here why the CBI had not made Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a witness in the case. Mr. Balwa's counsel Majid Memon was responding to the investigating agency's submission that the court should consider the prima facie case while deciding on the bail application of the accused.

“Mr. Raja [former Union Telecom Minister] was regularly in touch with the Prime Minister to apprise him of the developments in the Telecom Department. Why was the Prime Minister not made a prosecution witness? In that case, we might call him a defence witness,” Mr. Memon said {That seems like a good question to me.} referring to the correspondence between Mr. Raja and Dr. Singh that the investigating agency had submitted along with the charge sheet.

Defence also referred to the main charge sheet in which the CBI had stated Mr. Raja “knowingly misrepresented the facts and misled the Prime Minister while mentioning that the department was not deviating from the existing procedure in as much as the overriding principle of introducing new cellular operators subject to availability of sufficient spectrum was flouted.”

Vijay Aggarwal, who also represents Mr. Balwa, told Special Judge O. P. Saini: “The CBI is saying Mr. Raja misled the Prime Minister. Then it should be the Prime Minister, who should say that to the court, not the CBI.”

Emphasising that the sale of equity in Swan Telecom to Etisalat was to raise more money for the fledgling company, Mr. Memon relied upon a transcript of Dr. Singh's interaction with editors of the electronic media on February 16 which was submitted to the court.

He quoted from a portion of the transcript where, to a question on the 2G scam, the Prime Minister, said: “Now subsequent events have shown that companies sold their equity, but I was told they had not sold it to shareholders. They have sold it in a manner to dilute the equity of the promoters. Now, if they have to roll out, they require money and that money can be raised either by way of borrowings, or by way of diluting equity by getting in more people.”

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Wednesday praised her contribution to society and attributed her rise in the party to merit rather than her relationship to him.

Mr. Karunanidhi's address to the party's high-level committee was an emotional response to the crisis faced by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)

“Nobody can say her rise is because she is my daughter,” he claimed. He cited her activities in organising job fairs in different parts of Tamil Nadu, at which 1.34 lakh people got employment, and in conducting ‘Chennai Sangamam,' a cultural show featuring the State's folk arts, to argue that she had done much for society at large.

“It is out of jealousy that many are against Ms. Kanimozhi,” Mr. Karunanidhi said. {Absolutely and that is why the case is foisted on her. Earlier, Mr. Karunanidhi said that because A.Raja was a Dalit, the case was fabricated against him. That's it.}

He said she was reluctant to attend the high-level committee meeting at the DMK headquarters because hundreds of reporters and photographers were waiting outside her residence to raise questions.

“I went there personally to fetch her for this meeting. Not because I wanted to save my daughter, but because one must understand that protecting her on behalf of the party is important to ensure that the party's image is not tainted.”