Bribery Charge Must Now Be Investigated
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DELHI 10 EDITORIAL THE HINDU SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2011 Bribery charge must now be investigated Siddharth Varadarajan course, the reason the cable struck a wider The Embassy cable suggests a serious crime chord is because there is corroborating evi- ince politics is a distraction, consider dence of bribery having taken place in the the following retelling of the Wiki- was committed on Indian soil to which U.S. run-up to the confidence vote. There are Leaks tale. An activist dies in a traffic video recordings from a sting operation con- accident. CCTV footage from a bank diplomats were privy. The Prime Minister ducted by CNN-IBN and a Parliamentary SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2011 Snearby suggests he might have been mur- committee tasked with probing the matter in dered but the case is never investigated cannot cite lame arguments to justify 2008 felt there was enough material for the properly. Three years later, a newspaper appropriate investigative agencies to con- publishes what it says is an American Em- inaction. duct a probe. That said, the Embassy cable’s Qadhafi regime bassy cable sent a few days before that suspi- contents still need to be verified. cious accident. In the cable, a U.S. diplomat Kapur saying Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal Captain Satish Sharma, Nachiketa Kapur quotes a multinational company executive was paid Rs.10 crore for each of its MPs. and Ajit Singh have all said the allegations climbs down talking loosely about how he paid money to That the RLD was actively being wooed against them are false. Captain Sharma has some criminals to convince the activist to get can be seen from the Union Cabinet’s July denied Mr. Kapur was ever his political aide n a move preceded by acrimonious argument, the out of his way. 17, 2008 decision to rename Lucknow air- and the latter has said he had only passing United Nations Security Council voted by 10 to How would a civilised country which val- port ‘Chaudhry Charan Singh Airport’ after contact with the Congress MP and with U.S. ues the rule of law react to such a disclosure? Mr. Ajit Singh’s father. Other inducements Embassy officials. Are they lying? Or was the none, with five abstentions, for a no-fly zone Would the government cite technicalities were also on offer but in the end, the RLD U.S. Embassy staff member being econom- I throughout Libyan airspace — and Libya caved in about the “unverified and unverifiable” na- voted against the government. Here Nachi- ical with the truth when he told the Charge by announcing acceptance of the resolution as well as a ture of the “purported” cable and the exec- keta Kapur turned out to have been remark- d’Affaires he had been shown the cash? ceasefire. The no-fly zone, from which aid flights would utive’s protestation of innocence and not ably prescient. After claiming the RLD MPs A proper police investigation conducted be exempt, is backed by authority to member states to even bother to ask the police to look into the had been paid off, the Embassy cable notes: by an agency like the CBI under the super- “take all necessary measures” to enforce compliance; matter? Or would it reassure the nation that “Kapur mentioned that money was not an vision of the Supreme Court can certainly even though the information is unverified, it issue at all, but the crucial thing was to en- communications.” make a fair attempt to establish where the this is diplomatic code for military action. In addition, will do its best to find out the truth? sure that those who took the money would Third, the Finance Minister said the in- burden of truth lies. the Security Council has widened the existing U.N. In the face of the political firestorm that vote for the government.” formation about bribery in the cable would Mr. Mukherjee is right that the cable is asset freeze and arms embargo against Tripoli and The Hindu’s publication of a secret U.S. Em- In the face of this damaging information not be considered admissible evidence in sovereign diplomatic communication but called on member states to stop mercenaries going to bassy cable about payoffs to MPs has gener- which is contained in a secret cable that was any court of law. The Prime Minister added India can surely request its “strategic part- Libya. An occupation force is expressly excluded. The ated, all that the people of India needed was never meant to be publicly circulated (that that “many of the persons referred to in ner” to help probe an allegation that has an assurance from the UPA government that too in a redacted form) till at least 2018, Mr. those reports have stoutly denied the verac- diminished the country’s democratic insti- resolution would almost certainly have failed had the the serious crime of bribery, if established by Mukherjee and Dr. Singh made five lame ity of the contents,” as if the country ought to tutions in the eyes of its people and the League of Arab States (the Arab League), the African a proper investigation, would not go unpuni- points. be satisfied by mere protestations of inno- world. For starters, the U.S. can be asked to Union, and the Secretary-General of the Organisation shed. What they got instead was cynical First, the Finance Minister told Parlia- cence by the accused. identify the unnamed Embassy staff mem- of the Islamic Conference not already condemned Li- obfuscation. ment on Thursday that since the allegation The government’s fourth argument was ber. If he was an Indian employee or an byan violations of human rights and international law. Speaking in Parliament on the subject, of bribery applies to the 14th Lok Sabha that a Parliamentary committee had probed American without diplomatic status, there Muammar Qadhafi’s first response was, in fact, a mind- Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and which has since been dissolved, the 15th Lok the matter and concluded that there was would be absolutely no problem in the CBI Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have Sabha had no locus standi to discuss the “insufficient evidence.” Finally, the Prime recording his statement and asking him to less rant: he said “no mercy” would be shown to resi- mounted a ‘technical’ and wholly ineffective issue. Minister took refuge behind the “court of the join a criminal investigation. He could tell dents of Benghazi who resisted him and also defence of the government. Second, he said the cable was a sovereign people,” declaring that since the Congress us, for example, where his conversation with threatened retaliatory targeting of all air and maritime The July 17, 2008 cable sent by U.S. communication between different branches got re-elected in 2009 the charge of bribery Mr. Kapur took place. The staffer reported traffic in the Mediterranean. Charge d’Affaires Steven White stated that a of the U.S. government, was covered by dip- had been “rejected by the people.” By this back to Mr. White that he was told Rs.50 The possibility of air strikes against one’s own peo- Congress politician named Nachiketa Kapur lomatic immunity and that the information logic, the Congress has no right to accuse crore or Rs.60 crore was “lying around the — described as a “political aide” to Captain it contained could neither be confirmed nor Narendra Modi of complicity in the 2002 ple, combined with Mr. Qadhafi’s imprecations, might house.” Which house was he referring to? Satish Sharma, M.P. — showed an Embassy denied by India. Despite the U.S. State De- massacres since this allegation has been “re- Even if the Embassy “staff member” was a bring to mind the widely publicised possibility raised in staff member “two chests containing cash partment saying publicly last year that Sec- jected by the people” not once but twice. diplomat — one theory is that it was the 2009 of Indian Air Force action against Maoists, which and said that around Rupees 50crore-60 retary of State Hillary Clinton had spoken to Instead of hiding behind technicalities Political Counsellor himself who dropped would surely affect civilians as well; this was quickly crore (about $25 million) was lying around External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna to and dubious political arguments, govern- his descriptor because he had inadvertently ruled out. The Libyan strongman’s threats, however, the house for use as pay-offs” to MPs to warn him of the impending publication of ment managers could have defused the crisis become party to a criminal act — diplomatic were of a quite different order, especially in the context ensure that the Manmohan Singh govern- confidential cables by WikiLeaks, Dr. Singh by promising that the information contained immunity would not come in the way of him ment won the confidence vote that was set told Parliament: “The Government of India in the cable would be probed. It is nobody’s informally helping the police in their in- of his regime’s acts of brutality against its own people. for July 22. The cable, which was accessed by cannot confirm the veracity, contents or claim that the contents of a U.S. Embassy vestigation. India can also ask the U.S. to As for the U.N. Security Council, while its tough stance The Hindu from WikiLeaks, also quotes Mr. even the existence of such cable should be treated as gospel truth. Of waive his immunity. Moreover, the call re- might have worked for now, the course of action in- cords of Captain Sharma and Mr. Kapur can dicated in the resolution is deeply flawed.