The Supreme Court yesterday asked the Union government to state whether it has issued any general directions to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigating the hawala cases regarding the prosecution of high officials and elected representatives.
The court, while hearing the hawala matters, also asked the government to file such directions, if any, within two weeks. These will then be considered at the next hearing in February. If there were such directions, it was a serious matter, the judges observed.
A division bench consisting of Justice J S Verma, Justice S P Bharucha and Justice Suhas C Sen passed the order when Anil Divan, senior lawyer appointed to assist the court, submitted that recent news reports have painted an alarming picture regarding hawala and other investigations.
They alleged that there were attempts to fetter investigative agencies, including the CBI, by issuing certain directives. Law and order have broken down and public property have been damaged as a protest against investigations and action against powerful politicians.
He quoted two examples. One directive has reportedly been issued in connection with bank officers where the executive wanted no action to be taken without its previous sanction. Similarly, the CBI has been restrained in taking action against ministers past and present.
Attorney general Ashok Desai said that he was not aware of such directions and submitted that 34 chargesheets have been filed so far in the hawala cases and there are 54 accused.
Regarding Amir Bhai, who was till recently in Hong Kong and is alleged to be the kingpin of the operations in which foreign currency was sent to top politicians over the years to subvert law and order, the hearing was conducted in-camera. Therefore, details were not available.
Meanwhile, Anil Divan has sought certain directions from the court. He has asked the court to direct the government to file particulars about the legislators and ministers against whom prosecutions have been launched under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The counsel has also sought directions appointing special commissioners to be in overall charge of each separate prosecution acting under the supervision of a retired judge or any other method to ensure the proper prosecution of cases.
He has asked the court to put together an independent team of officers to carry on prosecution who are free from executive control.
Their future career should also be protected. A lawyers team to conduct the prosecutions has also been suggested by Divan. The next hearing in the hawala monitoring case is scheduled for February 10.
