Steering clear of the controversy over the government's move to get the bank account of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochhi frozen, the Congress Friday said the party had nothing to do with the issue as it played no role in decision-making.
"Our stand is crystal clear. The law must take its course and the guilty must be punished," Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.
"It is not for us to answer. It is the legal response of a department of the government. The Congress has nothing to do with the record or with decision-making," Singhvi said briefing newsmen in Delhi.
"There is no question of approval or disapproval of the Congress," Singhvi, replying to a question, said whether the evidence against the Bofors agent Quattrocchi was suficient or not was for the legal department to decide.
"This is a decision for the legal department and the Central Bureau of Investigation. Direct your inquiry elsewhere," he said.
Expressing legal opinion, the Congress spokesman said according to the law the accounts of an individual could not be frozen beyond a certain period.
There must be evidence to justify extension for keeping the account frozen.
"Whether the view of the law ministry is justified or not, it is for the ministry to answer. I am not privy to any material," he said.
He said for 20 years there had been an attempt to sensationlise the issue and drag the Congress into it, but the allegation of involvement in the Bofors controversy had been found baseless.
"For 20 years the opposition has flogged the dead horse connecting the Congress with Bofors," he added. Asked for comment on former defence minister George Fernandes' views on the Quattrocchi issue, Singhvi said his views had been known to the people since decades.