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Former TMC minister denies witch-hunt against Jaya

Tamil Maanila Congress politician S R Balasubramanian today denied forcing former Central Bureau of Investigation director Joginder Singh to register a case against All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha in the foreign remittances case.

Addressing the media in Madras, Balasubramanian, who was minister of state for personnel in the United Front government, said he was only a minister of state and Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, who was in charge of the department, took the final decision.

Deve Gowda had at no time had any reservation against registering the case, he added.

In his forthcoming book, Inside CBI, excerpts from which were published today, Singh said a Union minister from Tamil Nadu had pressured him to register the case against Jayalalitha even though no case existed. He said the minister had a one-point agenda --- to see that the CBI pursued the case against Jayalalitha, a former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, vigorously.

Singh claimed that Deve Gowda himself had agreed that there was no case against Jayalalitha since she had filed returns on her income and enjoyed immunity under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme.

Balasubramanian argued that it was wrong to say that Jayalalitha enjoyed blanket immunity after declaring the receipt of $300,000 as foreign remittance. Laundered money and drug trafficking money were not covered under the scheme, he said.

He said the personnel ministry had only acted on a request from the Tamil Nadu government, which had registered the case against Jayalalitha, to transfer it to the CBI since investigation had to be done in foreign countries and the state government lacked the infrastructure for such an inquiry.

The CBI had registered a case after legal opinion affirmed that a prima facie case existed, Balasubramanian added. It was only then that the Centre had issued a notification authorising the agency to investigate.

Besides, courts issued letters rogatory to the governments of Britain, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States seeking information for the trial, something they wouldn't have done if there had been no valid case.

Even after the BJP-led government assumed office, the courts sent reminders to the respective foreign governments, he said.

Balasubramanian said Singh had never opposed the filing of the case against Jayalalitha or even discussed the matter with him.

He said Singh should not have made his observation now when the case is pending. Asked whether he thought there was any political motive for Singh's disclosure or its timing, the TMC politician said he would not mind if it was meant to please someone.

Balasubramanian denied that any other Cabinet minister from Tamil Nadu had tried to influence the CBI in the case.

Jayalalitha had alleged that then finance minister P Chidambaram had exerted pressure on the CBI to register a case against her.

Joginder Singh's revelations are bound to have political repercussions in Tamil Nadu. Jayalalitha has maintained all along that the state government, headed by arch-rival M Karunanidhi of the DMK, is pursuing cases against her in a vindictive manner.

Interestingly, the prime minister's office had recently issued a statement that it would not allow a witch hunt against any individual.

UNI

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