The Hindu : National : No middlemen: Pranab

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Thursday, Mar 23, 2006

National

National

No middlemen: Pranab

Sandeep Dikshit

Pranab Mukherjee

NEW DELHI : Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday ruled out the presence of middlemen in the multi-billion-dollar Scorpene submarine deal with France.

He said the then Defence Minister, George Fernandes, had given a ``clean chit'' to the company while answering questions in Parliament even as his Government refused to sign integrity pacts for the deal as suggested by the Central Vigilance Commissioner.

On the other hand, senior National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders claimed "there is a middleman who has received huge amounts said to be on behalf of the Congress." They demanded his arrest, scrapping of the deal and placing of all files before an enquiry commission to clear the air on whether the previous Government had cleared the contract.

Meet media

Deprived of the opportunity to air their views in Parliament, both sides met the media separately to give their versions of the submarine contract with French companies. "We have been disappointed by the response [Tuesday's statement in Parliament by Mr. Mukherjee]. We would like to reiterate that in this particular matter, the agreement has been violated. A comprehensive inquiry should be instituted to fix political responsibility and ascertain all other facts relating to scandal," said the Leader of the Opposition, L. K. Advani.

Former Defence Minister Jaswant Singh said Mr. Mukherjee did not touch "some parts" in his statement. "I know for a fact that on three separate occasions, the Ministry of Finance [during the NDA Government] had substantial observations to make about the deal. In May last year too, the Ministry had found difficulties with the contract. All relevant files should be part of a comprehensive inquiry. That should settle the controversy," he said.

Lax with facts

Mr. Singh accused the Defence Ministry of being "lax with facts" by not commenting on e-mails between a French company and the alleged middleman in the deal.

In response, Mr. Mukherjee said the French company had filed a case in the Delhi High Court after a magazine made similar allegations. "A man with ordinary prudence will wait for the court's judgment. And, if the company is lying before the court that the e-mails were not genuine, it will be tried for perjury. Why don't they wait [for the court's judgement]?" he asked.

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