CBI sure of hawala scam charges against Advani, Shukla

There is enough admissible evidence to frame charges against Bharatiya Janata Party President L K Advani and former federal minister V C Shukla in the Rs 650 million Jain hawala case and these chargesheets were not filed to launch ''malicious or frivolous'' prosecution, the Central Bureau of Investigation told the Delhi high court on Monday, March 3.

Opening arguments on behalf of the investigating agency, senior counsel Gopal Subramaniam submitted before Justice Mohammad Shamim that the special hawala court of V B Gupta had not erred in framing charges of criminal conspiracy and corruption against the two leaders last year.

At the stage of framing of charges, the trial court has to satisfy itself that there is enough material to form a prima facie case against the accused and to send the matter for trial.

''The principles of charge are not the same as the principles of conviction. At the stage of framing of charge, the court does not have to examine in detail whether the evidence of the prosecution would be enough to secure a conviction after trial,'' Subramaniam added.

If there is ''strong suspicion'' of the accused having committed the offence, the trial court cannot discharge the accused at the stage of framing of charge and the matter should be sent up for trial, he quoted the Supreme Court as holding.

In the cases against Advani and Shukla, the CBI had enough evidence to show that a prima facie case existed and this was not a case of ''innocent politicians'' being roped in a ''groundless, baseless'' prosecution, as alleged by their counsel, he added.

Turning to the admissibility of the Jain diaries as evidence, Subramaniam averred that these were not just loose sheets of pages strung together. ''I will show to the court that there is internal consistency in the diaries, a method in making the entries and these are consistent with other pieces of evidence.''

In example, the counsel cited that the CBI had recovered Rs 5.8 million from a balance of Rs 6.8 million shown in the diaries. This money was recovered in raids on the premises of the Jain brothers and their employee following the interrogation of a ''certain gentleman'' who confessed to having dealt in hawala money at the behest of the Jains, he added.

The senior counsel appearing for Advani, Shukla and the Jains had contended before Justice Shamim that the CBI had filed ''politically motivated'' cases. They also averred that the diaries in which the entries about the alleged payments to top politicians and bureaucrats were made by the Jains were not admissible as evidence.

In light of this, the court should discharge the accused at the stage of framing of charges and not make them go through the process of trial, they submitted.

According to the CBI chargesheets, Advani allegedly received Rs 3.5 million from the Jain brothers and Shukla Rs 3.8 million while they were serving as public servants.

Subramaniam further submitted that under the 1988 Prevention of Corruption Act, members of Parliament were public servants and were thus liable to be prosecuted under it.

UNI