By IANS,
New Delhi : A Delhi-based lawyer Thursday accused Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium of committing professional misconduct by first defending Bofors scam accused Win Chadha in early 2000 and then appearing for the prosecuting agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Supreme Court.
Ajay Agrawal made the allegation against Subramanium – the government’s second ranking law officer – during the hearing of his lawsuit by a bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice C.K. Prasad.
The lawsuit was filed originally in 2006 against the union government’s approval to a London bank to defreeze Bofors scam accused Ottavio Quattrocchi’s account, allegedly stashed with payoff money.
Agrawal said Subramanium had earlier represented and defended late Dubai-based businessman Win Chaddha – accused of receiving kickbacks in the Bofors scandal – before the designated CBI court earlier in 2000.
Subramanium subsequently had also represented Chaddha in the Delhi High Court, Agrawal said, adding that after his appointment as additional solicitor general in 2004 and subsequently his elevation as solicitor general in 2009, he had been appearing for the CBI and the government, which is supposed to bring Chaddha and Quattrocchi to book.
Agrawal questioned the solicitor general’s rationale behind opposing before the same bench Wednesday his plea for an early hearing of his lawsuit pending in the court since 2006.
Agrawal pointed out to the bench that despite the bench expressing its inclination to list the matter for hearing in March itself, the solicitor general wanted it to be deferred.
Though Agrawal’s original plea in his lawsuit for direction to the union government to stop Quattrocchi from withdrawing money from his London bank account has now become defunct, Agrawal has further moved the court for launching contempt of court proceedings against a former CBI director for failing to act promptly in the matter.
The solicitor general sought to dismiss Agrawal’s allegation against him saying, “Chaddha has left for a heavenly abode” quite sometime back and “if this matter has to be clarified, one will have to go there”.
The solicitor general’s remark, however, failed to amuse the bench, which adjourned the matter, including Agrawal’s plea for launch of contempt of court proceedings against the former CBI director, on Tuesday.