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Scam sequel: after sugar it's wheat now

Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi

In the war of allegations and counter-allegations, the Congress party today made another charge at the government, claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance government was responsible for importing large quantities of wheat when there was no need for the same.

"The government must answer why it ordered such huge quantities of wheat, for whose benefit was the import decision retained even as the country had a surplus of wheat in its godowns all over the country," said Congress spokesperson Kapil Sibal.

Sibal said that the import was carried out even as the international agency, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, asked the government to curb the imports since wheat did not have a long shelf-life and would rot unless consumed. "In fact, that is exactly what happened. The godowns were overflowing with wheat, so that they were then stored at the various ports of the country where today only the rats are feeding on them," Sibal claimed.

"The imports were made to meet the needs of South India, which is just 1.2 million metric tonnes per annum. There was already a buffer stock of 400,000 tonnes, yet, the government imported 1.5 million tonnes," claimed Sibal.

The spokesperson claimed that the State Trading Corporation, which is in charge of all such procurements, had ordered the Food Corporation of India, which looks after the food supplies and buffer stock, to import the wheat despite the latter's reluctance.

Sibal further charged that the order for import was given without the sanction of the secretary, food and civil supplies ministry. "Obviously the order then came from the government," said Sibal, but he refused to elaborate who within the government had placed the order.

The Congress party has alleged that besides the sugar scam, the government must also probe the wheat scam. The party also thanked the prime minister for agreeing to an inquiry into the sugar scam, but demanded to know the details on the kind of committee that will be set up and what its powers to investigate will be.

The Congress has alleged that India was importing sugar even as the Kargil crisis was on, thereby giving Pakistan money to attack India.

Meanwhile, the BJP struck back in this ongoing war of words and charges. "Let me clarify today that there was no import of any sugar from Pakistan after the November-December 1998 period. Only one small consignment of sugar, which had been delayed, was delivered in March 1999. And no sugar was imported during the entire Kargil war period," BJP spokesperson Arun Jaitley.

Jaitley said he would answer questions on the alleged wheat scam after he had read the details of the Congress charge, but dismissed it as nothing more than bluster. "The Congress has gone into this election with no issue at all. So everyday they release a balloon, making one allegation or another, all of which are then forgotten," he said.

The BJP, in its counter charge, said that it wanted the Congress to answer on whether Sonia Gandhi's associate Ottavio Quattrochi received any payments from Bofors or not. "First, Sonia Gandhi asked the media to produce evidence about Quattrochi's involvment. She obviously has not read the detailed reports in The Hindu, The Indian Express and The Statesman, all of which highlighted Quattrochi's involvement," said Jaitley.

Jaitley pointed out that Sibal had declared recently that Quattrochi was paid by Bofors under a contract.

"Now, we have Quattrochi speaking from Kuala Lumpur, whereby he has asked for a guarantee to return to India," said the BJP spokesperson, "forgetting that the Supreme Court had offered him such guarantee and which Quattrochi himself rejected."

Jaitley wondered why Quattrochi should have doubts for his safety in a country where he had lived for two decades.

"If, as Quattrochi says he never took the money, then why did he file an appeal freezing an account into which the Bofors money was paid? Why did he flee from India within a week of his name being disclosed by the Swiss authorities to the CBI that he was an appellant and recipient of the Bofors money?" asked Jaitley.

Jaitley praised the media for its role in exposing the Bofors scam, saying that the media did a better job than the official investigating agencies.

The BJP also charged that the Congress deliberately let Quattrochi flee India despite warnings from the then joint director of the CBI K Madhavan. The party released copies of three letters that Madhavan had written to his superiors requesting them to shut down all emigration points in the country as he feared that Quattrochi might try and flee.

"But, as we now know, no action was taken and Quattrochi was able to flee. And ever since his escape from India, the legal process in the Bofors case has ground to a halt," claimed Jaitley.

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