Speaker rejects demand for fresh Bofors probe

Bharatiya Janata Party member Jaswant Singh demanded a new probe into the Bofors issue but Lok Sabha speaker Purno A Sangma rejected it.

Sangma also expressed his displeasure over the leakage of some names by the Central Bureau of Investigation. He said this was a serious matter on which the government should take appropriate action.

Referring to the government's undertakings to the Swiss authorities, he said that it is as incumbent on Parliament as it is on the government to abide by undertakings and conditionalities.

Sangma said the earlier joint parliamentary committee going into the scam from 1987 had held 50 sittings lasting 140.25 hours while the eighth and the ninth Lok Sabhas had discussed the issue for about 60 hours after the JPC report in April 1988. So another committee on the matter is hardly likely to make a difference, he pointed out.