OROP: Rajeev Chandrasekhar writes to PM

Honour the Commitment and Implement One Rank, One Pension for Armed Forces Veterans, says Rajeev Chandrasekhar - October 08, 2012

Letter to PM

PM Response
Rajeev Chandrasekhar Speech in Special Parliament Session
Speech by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP, during special session of Parliament on 60th anniversary of Indian Parliament. On the occasion, Rajeev Chandrasekhar urged for introspection and credible action to regain the faith of people in Indian Parliament as an institution.

CBI under duress to close bribe case: Weapons Lobby's Links

CBI to seek legal opinion in ex-Army chief bribery case
Press Trust of India / New Delhi September 11, 2012, 20:05
CBI will seek legal opinion to decide the future course of action on its preliminary probe carried out into former Army Chief Gen V K Singh's allegation that he was offered Rs 14 crore in bribe for clearing a deal of "sub-standard" vehicles.
"Our preliminary investigation is complete. We will seek a legal opinion in the matter. A decision on whether to convert PE into FIR or close the investigation is likely to be taken by this month-end," a senior CBI official said.
The official, however, declined to give details on the investigation in the case.
The probe agency had on April 11 registered a preliminary inquiry (PE) after receiving a complaint from Gen V K Singh against unknown retired army officers and private persons.
The then Army chief had claimed that an equipment lobbyist had offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore, a matter he had reported to Defence Minister A K Antony.
The Ministry had then recommended a CBI probe into the allegation made by the then Army Chief.
In a communication to the CBI, Gen V K Singh had said that there was a bribe offer from Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh following which the CBI had asked him to submit detailed description of the incident, list of possible witnesses and supporting documents on the issue.
Gen V K Singh had given to the CBI detailed description of the incident during which he was allegedly offered bribe.
Lt Gen Tejinder Singh has refuted the allegations levelled against him and also filed a defamation case against the ex-Army Chief and other officers.
CBI and its antics
Related Reading
Gen Bikram Singh undoing decisions of his predecessor Gen VK Singh
Height of Honesty: Criminals Plead with Sonia Gandhi
Adarsh members want Sonia Gandhi to initiate probe against ex-army chief: HT

MOD, MHA, PMO and CBI go slow tactics on Scorpene Deal Scamsters

CBI awakes from Naval war-room slumber
Vinay Kumar, Sujay Mehdudia
NEW DELHI, May 31, 2012
Five months after allegations surfaced that businessman Abhishek Verma may have stashed away millions of dollars linked to a 2006 defence scandal in overseas banks, the Central Bureau of Investigation has finally moved to seek details on the case from a key witness in the United States.
Highly-placed sources told The Hindu that the CBI has assigned a Deputy Inspector-General of Police to get details on the transactions from New York resident C. Edmond Allen, who was once Mr. Verma's lawyer and business associate, about funds escrow account of a firm in New York.
In letters written to the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) chiefs early this year, Mr. Allen alleged that Mr. Verma had parked $410 million in overseas banks. Mr. Allen, who handled Mr. Verma's funds from April 2000 to February 2004, refused to return the funds, citing the U.S. anti-corruption laws — sparking off litigation between them in New York.
The CBI did not respond to questions from The Hindu seeking an explanation for the prolonged delay in seeking this information. There is also no word on whether Mr. Verma has yet been questioned on the allegations.
In voluminous documents sent to the CBI and ED chiefs in January-February 2012, Mr. Allen, also a real estate consultant based in New York, alleged that Mr. Verma was involved in money laundering, illegal dealings with defence manufacturers, forgery and tax evasion. He also levelled charges against Mr. Verma that referred to bids to manipulate trade policy to benefit certain foreign defence firms. Mr. Allen claimed he had drawn Defence Minister A.K. Antony's attention to Mr. Verma's activities, which he alleges had national-security implications.
The CBI had, more than five years ago, charged Mr. Verma with receiving over Rs. 6 crore to bribe officials for details of upcoming defence deals. Its present probe is intended to see whether the contested funds in New York could be linked to his alleged work on behalf of international arms firms.
According to the documents, Mr. Allen formed Ganton Limited in the U.S. in 2005 to invest in India in the real estate and defence sectors. Ganton Limited later opened Ganton India, which employed Mr. Verma's Romanian friend Anca Neascu and Gili Golan, a friend with an Israeli passport.
The two men fell out in 2011, and Mr. Verma sent a letter to Mr. Allen asking him to return $ 410 million earlier deposited with him as per agreements of April 2000 and February 2004. A complaint filed by attorney Lynn Judell on behalf of Mr. Verma in the South District Court of New York, said Mr. Allen refused to return the money.
CBI awakes from Naval war-room slumber
Contrast this with speedy trial of Insider Trading Scamsters in NY
Rajat Gupta defense takes aim at trader's credibility
Scorpene deal scam
Born into an influential family, Mr. Verma's parents were Congress parliamentarians. His father Srikant Verma was a well known Hindi writer and journalist who later became Congress MP and spokesperson. His mother Veena Verma was also a Congress MP. Mr. Verma himself founded a business with interests in the aviation and defence sectors, and was listed by a prominent magazine as one of India's youngest billionaires. Abhishek Verma had spent more than a year in Delhi's maximum security Central Tihar jail, but photographs circulated by Mr. Allen show that he managed to get mobile phones and other luxury items inside jail for his use. Sources close to Mr. Verma dismissed such charges as being “false,” but did not offer an explanation for how he had obtained a mobile phone in prison.
Click here to read more...
Tailpiece
The Scorpene deal scam is one of India's largest bribery corruption scandals, in which Rs. 500 crore (about USD 10 mn) is alleged to have been paid to government decision makers by Thales, the makers of the Scorpene submarine. The amount was channeled via middlemen such as Abhishek Verma. Also involved was Ravi Shankaran, a relative of the then chief of navy staff Arun Prakash. He is the prime accused in the Navy War Room spy scandal. The investigation moved very slowly. In 2007, Prashant Bhushan of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation filed a petition with the Delhi High Court to investigate whether there had been kickbacks in the Scorpene submarine deal. The High Court took a strong line with the investigating agency, saying "We feel dissatisfied with that you've done so far. If you've tried to shield someone, then we will come down very heavily on you". In October 2005, defence minister Pranab Mukherjee approved the Rs 19,000 crore submarine deal with French company Thales. Scorpene submarines are now being built in India under a technology transfer agreement that was part of that contract.
Question: Who are the beneficiaries of Money Laundering and Bribes? Still in the dark not investigated!

Mandate 2009

Monday, April 27, 2009
33 crorepatis, 20 criminals in fray for Delhi elections
New Delhi: As many as 33 millionaires and 20 people with criminal records will fight for Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats that go to polls May 7. "A total of 33 'crorepatis' are contesting elections in Delhi. Of 33, seven are from the Congress and five each from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Delhi Election Watch (DEW) statement Monday said.

Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for BSP is Rs1.13 billion (Rs.113 crores), Congress Rs.70 million (Rs.7 crores) and BJP Rs.20 million (Rs.2 crores), the statement added.

Two candidates have declared their assets as zero, and four have declared assets of less than Rs 20,000, while 42 percent of the total candidates have not furnished their PAN card details as compared to 65 percent in 2004.

The average increase in individual assets has been 755 percent with one candidate showing a jump of over 3000 percent and most of them showing increase in three digits.

Of 160 candidates in the fray, the DEW looked into affidavits of 158 candidates and found that 20 candidates (12.5 percent) have criminal records.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded four candidates with criminal records, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded three and the Congress has given ticket to one candidate with criminal record," according to the statement.

"There are seven candidates who are charged with heinous crimes which includes murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and extortion. Amongst major parties, the BSP has fielded maximum (2) number of candidates with serious crimes in Delhi. No other major party has fielded any such candidates," the statement added.

Delhi Election Watch (DEW) is part of a nationwide National Election Watch (NEW) campaign, comprising more than 1200 NGOs and other citizen organisations working on electoral reforms, improving democracy and governance in India.
Source: IANS
MSN Special
General Elections 2009
33 crorepatis, 20 criminals in fray for Delhi elections

Citizens appeal to the Politicians

To: Indian MPs and Leaders of National Political Parties
Dear Members of Parliament and Leaders of National Political Parties

As concerned citizens, we urge you to restore the country’s faith in our highest democratic institutions by removing the taints of crime and cash from the election process.

We urge you to take immediate steps to ensure that only clean and capable candidates are nominated for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections as well as for the Assembly Elections in October- November in Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Mizoram.

The process of nominating criminals and spending exorbitantly on election campaigns should stop immediately.

It is ironic that an ordinary citizen cannot get a Government Class IV job with even a small criminal record, but one can become a Chief Minister or Cabinet Minister, with a murder charge against him. The current Lok Sabha has 22.1 \% (120 out of 543) elected MPs with criminal records against them. The number of cases of serious criminal charges against Lok Sabha MPs is 333, with several MPs having multiple cases.

Corruption in society begins with the huge spending in elections. The Chief Election Commissioner wrote publicly that “If a candidate is willing to spend ten times more than the prescribed ceiling, it is not out of philanthropy, but in the secure knowledge that he can earn ten times what he spends once he gets to the seat of power.” Therefore, exorbitant expenditure in the elections, including distributing cash, liqour, clothes, and other in-kind inducements to voters to influence their votes should be completely stopped.

We reiterate that you actively work to persuading your party leaders to nominate only clean and capable candidates for the elections.

This is a petition sponsored by National Election Watch - a non partisan, non political campaign led by citizens comprising of a nationwide network of 1200 civil society organizations, people’s movements, NGOs, eminent citizens and leaders. The National Election Watch campaign is supported by the Association for Democratic Reforms (www.adrindia.org) and now has over 25,000 records of all candidates, including all the Lok Sabha MP and candidates from 2004. The findings are widely distributed by the print and electronic media which has supported these election watches and campaigns.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Click here for petition online

Fast Track Cabinet decision on judges’ pay hike

Breaking News concerning telecom minister Raja's issue, the screen was flashing with "PM AND FM IN THE LOOP". Within half an hour, Government's decision regarding the judges salary hike started flashing "1 lac per month for the CJI and 5 lac per annum pension". Judges are lucky for such a real 'FAST TRACK' decision unlike the SCPC for the Armed Forces Pay Anomalies which is still looped and locked up with the GoM!
FinMin objects to judges' pay hike plan
Cabinet to decide on judges’ pay hike