TEAM HERALD
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NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation’s request for permission to question Goa Governor B V Wanchoo and West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan in the Agusta Westland VVIP chopper deal was shot down by the Law Ministry on the ground that they enjoy the constitutional immunity.
The agency had sought permission as part of its investigation into alleged Rs 362-crore bribe in the deal that was scrapped by the government on Wednesday after a protracted exchange of letters last year for violation of the integrity pact. It felt Wanchoo, who was then head of the Special Protection Group (SPG) that provides the security cover to the PM, and then National Security Adviser (NSA) Narayanan had participated in the meeting in 2005 that allowed key changes in the technical specifications.
The CBI had made out a case that the height at which the helicopters can fly as also the flight evaluation of Agusta Westland and its competitor Sikorsky were changed in favour of the former in this crucial meeting.
The Law Ministry smelt rat in the agency’s request to quiz Wanchoo and Narayanan as they can be even made accused if the changes made in the meeting were outcome of the bribe paid through middlemen. It, therefore, asked the CBI to disclose under which sections of the criminal law it wants to question the two governors, noting that it can record their statement, but only after it clearly states that they would figure in the list of witnesses under the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
A stinking note sent out by the Law Ministry to make the CBI withdraw from quizzing the two governors noted that they hold the Constitutional posts giving them immunity under Article 361 from prosecution and hence, “till the time the status of the two governors in question is made clear by the investigating agency, it will not be feasible to record their statements.”
Meanwhile, the Bhartiya Janata Party on Thursday said that the cancellation of the helicopter deal should not lead to closure of the CBI investigation. Its senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here that the probe should be continued to find out names of those who received the bribe money in India as initials of ultimate beneficiary and his family have been revealed by a middlemen, raising suspicion that the payment was made to some political personalities in the government.
Prasad expressed concern that every major defence deal in the last eight or nine years has ended up in some kind of scandal, showing that middlemen dominate the entire government. The defence deals are dropped at a time when the Indian forces cry of the shortages that affect India’s defence preparedness, he added.
