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V P says he has said all there's to say about HDW scam

Former prime minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh has declined to give more details on the Rs 4.2 billion H D W submarine scam saying his earlier statement recorded by the Central Bureau of Investigation was sufficient.

Singh had conveyed this to the CBI in a letter.

Special CBI counsel Gopal Subramaniam informed the Delhi high court that ''whatever Singh had to say, he has already said it before the CBI in his recorded statement.''

The controversial German submarine deal was transacted during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure as prime minister. Singh, as the defence minister for a brief period, had raised questions about the deal.

The CBI counsel stated that Singh had also talked to the agency director on the phone and reiterated his stand taken in the letter.

The submission came in response to the court direction of April 15 seeking the outcome of the CBI's examination of Singh within two weeks.

The demand for Singh's examination by the Bureau was raised by petitioner B L Wadhera in view of a newspaper report quoting Singh as saying he had vital information about the deal, and he was ready to reveal it before the CBI. Singh, reportedly, then said the CBI had not approached him.

Subramaniam stated that Singh was not examined by the agency in view of his letter written in reply to the CBI request for granting time to seek his assitance.

The CBI had on April 15 informed the court that it had initiated steps for Singh's examination, and would conclude the process within the next two weeks.

The submissions were made before a division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Mahinder Narain and Justice Mukul Mudgal. The bench questioned the way in which the CBI investigations were proceeding. ''You (the CBI) are not looking in the right direction,'' it had observed.

But the CBI counsel assured the bench that if there was any lead which had still not been followed up, the agency would make enquiries.

Submitting that the CBI was proceeding with the probe through the diplomatic channel now, Subramaniam contended: ''We are on the threshold of making a breakthrough in the case following the issuance of letter rogatory by a special court.''

The letter rogatory was issued by Special Judge Ajit Bharihoke on January 20, and had been sent to the German ambassador for being forwarded to the appropriate court, he added.

To the query of the judges as to which court in Germany was dealing with the matter, Subramaniam stated that under the German law the name of the authority or the court was generally not revealed.

The bench directed the CBI to place before it within two weeks the status of the letter rogatory and the name of the court or the authority which was dealing with the case.

About the court's query whether the records of the case were in their possession or not, the counsel submitted that a CBI team had visited Germany and had taken all related documents in its possession. He said the agency would produce the records before the bench, if it so wished.

About placing the letter rogatory before the court, Subramaniam said the agency would do so in a sealed cover as it didn't want the contents to be made public at this juncture. If that happened, the counsel said, it would scuttle the probe.

UNI

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