The Hindu : Front Page : Petrol pump cases were pending for five years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 03, 2004

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Front Page

Petrol pump cases were pending for five years

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI, NOV. 2. The request of the Central Bureau of Investigation for sanction to prosecute the former Union Petroleum Minister and Congress leader, Captain Satish Sharma, and other accused in the petrol pump and gas agencies allotment scam had been pending with the Centre for nearly five years before it was turned down on September 27.

Two Governments, one headed by the former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and the other by the National Democratic Alliance, did not take any decision on the CBI request all through these years.

The former Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, today suggested that the CBI did not require government permission under the law to go ahead with the prosecution. He said it was clear that though the CBI wanted to proceed it was denied permission by the Government. He accused the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government of "desperately trying to remove the taint of all tainted people on its side.''

Wealth case

In the five-year-old of disproportionate assets case against Capt. Sharma, the CBI already filed the closure report. The case pertained to remittances received by Capt. Sharma from his brother in the U.S. between 1986 and 1991. The remittances aroused the suspicion of the agency, which alleged that Capt. Sharma, initially as MP and later as Minister, had amassed wealth disproportionate to known sources of his income. The CBI probed his income tax returns and bank records and evaluated farmhouses he acquired between 1978-79 and 1996-97.

However, Capt. Sharma contended that the gifts he received from his brother were declared in his income tax returns and foreign remittances were done through normal banking channels which were reflected in his tax returns. Ultimately, the CBI submitted in April this year that the disproportionate assets were found to be only Rs. 2,65,322, which was negligible.

Referring to denial of government permission to prosecute Capt. Sharma, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded that the cases against him continue to their logical end without any interference from the Congress high command.

The CPI national secretary, D. Raja, said that the law should take its own course and the Government should not interfere.

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