Establish existence of hawala money, challenges Shukla

Former federal minister Vidya Charan Shukla has demanded that the prosecution first establish the existence of money obtained from "legal or illegal" sources and supposedly disbursed by the Jain brothers among politicians and bureaucrats in the hawala cases.

He said he was demanding this of not just the Central Bureau of Investigation but also the federal government and the media. He pointed out that the "element" of the existence of the money itself is missing in most of the cases filed against him and others.

Unless the receipt or possession of the money is proved, it would be difficult to prove its disbursement which is believed to have been done through "internal" sources and external source in hawala operations, he added.

He, however, refused to put the blame for this lapse on the political leadership, saying the investigating agency is at fault.

Asked whether the CBI, which is under Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao's charge, has referred the hawala case to him, Shukla said it need not do so. The CBI has always done things on its own.

He said he wanted the CBI to put up a strong prosecution, book the culprits and seek strict action against them.

He claimed that he had no financial dealings with the Jains, though the latter had been doing business in the area adjacent to his Raipur constituency. "The Jains did not get any benefit from me during the last 25 years, how can they hope to derive it from me in future," he asked.

Shukla claimed that he enjoyed the "same confidence" from his party's leadership as before.

He is confident of contesting the Lok Sabha poll on a Congress ticket. However, he said, he is yet to decide on a constituency.

Asked about the demand by a section of Congressmen that the hawala-tainted leaders should not be given tickets, Shukla said the law provided that a person is innocent till found guilty. He did not see the Congress' electoral prospects being affected by the hawala controversy.

Asked how he would defend himself in his constituency in view of the corruption charges against him, he replied the people themselves did not believe in the charges. It is for the first time during his 40 years of public life that such a charge had been made against him. His election funds have mainly come from the locals, besides what the party would contribute. "We do not have to take it from others," he claimed.

When his attention was drawn to reports that the Congress tickets aspirants would have to fill forms, which among other things, sought information on whether they were facing a criminal charge in a court, Shukla said that it was an 'old practice' and provided 'vital information' which was kept in mind while deciding about the tickets.

About former federal minister Arjun Singh, Shukla said he (Singh) has been facing corruption charges for many years. Singh is also facing a commission in connection with the Churhat lottery', he said.

Shukla took exception to reports terming the cases against him and others as hawala cases. He pointed out that the cases have been filed under the Prevention Of Corruption Act. "So far, no case relating to the violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act and the COFEPOSA have been filed and thus, it would be wrong to call them hawala cases."

Asked whether all promises extended to the opposition members who helped save the Congress government in 1993 had been met, he said only non-financial promises were made, which have been fulfilled long ago.

He made it clear that none of the opposition members were promised party tickets but assured that their cases would be considered on merit just as the cases of partymen themselves.

UNI