By IANS,
New Delhi : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday slammed Team Anna for the “unfair” and “motivated” graft allegations against him, and that too after he was chosen as a presidential candidate.
He also termed the allegations “false, self-seeking, malafide and made with ulterior motive and lacking any form of responsibility”.
Reacting to the allegations raised by Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal, Mukherjee said it was “unfortunate” that India Against Corruption (IAC), that claims to represent high standards of ethical behaviour, had thrown its professed morals to the winds and sent the allegations to the prime minister.
The reply, sent by Mukherjee’s officer on special duty (OSD), noted that the IAC had, in its complaint, failed to disclose that these very allegations were the subject matter of a public suit before the Delhi High Court and that the matter was sub judice, with Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan as the advocate.
In reply to the graft allegations made by IAC on May 26 in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against 15 central ministers, released now, Mukherjee’s OSD said the high court had passed several orders in the public suit that were never mentioned by Team Anna in its complaint.
“Prashant Bhushan has been the advocate in the PIL (suit) ever since it was filed in the Supreme Court (where it was withdrawn on the first day of hearing and taken to high court) in 2006. He is now seeking to agitate in a non-judicial forum what he has been unable to achieve through a constitutional process,” the reply said.
Kejriwal had, in media interactions including one on Monday, claimed that Mukherjee had been indicted in the Scorpene submarine deal made when he was defence minister and in the navy war room leak case, with a direct link between the two cases.
Mukherjee’s office said the allegations were inquired into in May 2005 and it did not reveal any linkage whatsoever with the Scorpene submarine project and the navy war room leak case.
The reply issued by Mukerjee’s office stated that timely action taken by the defence ministry had resulted in the dimissal of air force and naval officers involved in the war room leak case.
The CBI probe into the navy war room leak case led to the jailing of civilians involved in the matter, including arms dealer Abhishek Verma, who got bail only after two years in prison.
The court of inquiry conducted by the navy found no links between the war room leak case and the Scorpene project.