It is not the law but the effectiveness of the anti-corruption machinery which makes all the difference: Gujral

Prime Minister I K Gujral on Thursday directed vigilance agencies to investigate corruption cases expeditiously without yielding to pressure from any quarter.

Addressing a two-day special meeting of chiefs of the state anti-corruption bureaux and Central Bureau of Investigation officers in New Delhi, Gujral asked them to adopt new methods to make the anti-corruption wings more result-oriented.

"Economic crimes are posing new challenges to the vigilance machinery," he said. "It is not the law but the effectiveness of the anti-corruption machinery which makes all the difference."

Addressing the meeting, Home Minister Inderjit Gupta asked the law- enforcing machinery to break the nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and criminals.

"The agencies must rise to the occasion, identifying corrupt bureaucrats and politicians and taking stringent action against them," Gupta said. "From our side, we will leave no stone unturned to eradicate corruption from public life.''

In his welcome speech, CBI Director R C Sharma said the conference was an important step in the fight against corruption.

UNI