First Neta To Be Convicted After Sting Op
New Delhi: The arms firm was fake, the deal fictitious. But the bribe was real and former BJP president Bangaru Laxman on Friday earned the dubious distinction of being the first politician to be convicted in a sting operation that recorded him accepting Rs 1 lakh in cash.
The tape capturing the leader putting bundles of cash away in a drawer unleashed a political storm that took a heavy toll of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and has 11 years later resulted in Laxman’s conviction under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The conviction – the sentence is to be pronounced on Saturday and Laxman has been sent to Tihar jail – comes as a setback to BJP at a time when it is targeting Congress over graft scandals. It revives memories of a sordid chapter during NDA’s tenure in office when the scandal claimed then defence minister George Fernandes besides Laxman.
Special CBI judge Kanwal Jeet Arora held 72-year-old Laxman guilty under the anti-corruption law that provides for a maximum of five years in jail for taking a bribe from fake arms dealers to recommend to the defence ministry a contract for “thermal binoculars” for the Army.
11 YRS ON, LAW CATCHES UP
Tehelka scribes held 8 meetings with Laxman
between Dec 23, 2000 and January 7, 2001, posing as suppliers of defence products, says CBI chargesheet
Laxman took 1 lakh from representatives of fictitious UK-based firm West End Intl, on Jan 1, 2001, to recommend ‘hand-held thermal imagers’, a fictitious device, for the Army
Laxman was caught on camera, accepting the money in his chamber at the BJP headquarters. Had to quit as BJP chief
Delhi court convicts Laxman under Prevention of Corruption Act, namely Section 9, for “taking gratification for exercise of personal influence with public servant” Scribes acted as whistleblowers: Court It Declines To Buy Laxman’s Arguments, Says CBI Has Been Able To Establish Its Case
New Delhi: Bangaru Laxman’s conviction saw Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari asking BJP to “introspect instead of hurling baseless allegations” at others. “People in glass houses should not target others,” he said.
BJP sought to defend itself by claiming it had acted immediately against Laxman, but was clearly on the defensive on the sting that is embossed in public memory by TV shots of the former party president accepting bundles of cash from alleged defence middlemen.
The judge held that Laxman received money to “influence public servants” and said, “I am of the considered opinion that CBI has been able to establish the necessary ingredients of offence under section 9 (taking gratification for exercise of personal influence with public servant).”
The court also ruled that Laxman’s case was not one of entrapment although the defence had argued that he had no knowledge of the arms equipment being discussed. Upholding the sting, the court said, “I am of the opinion that methods adopted by Tehelka people may be objectionable but their purpose was not.”
The court added, “The material collected by the Tehelka people cannot be thrown overboard at the outset.”
The Tehelka sting heralded an era of such operations. After Laxman, Fernandes had to resign after fake agents entered his official residence and offered money to his associate Jaya Jaitly. It took the Vajpayee government months to ride the storm and Fernandes never quite recovered, being repeatedly targeted by Congress that got back against a long-time tormentor. Laxman’s political career also did not do any better although he did contest elections.
Pronouncing the conviction, the court said, “The CBI has been able to establish the case of accepting Rs one lakh bribe against Bangaru Laxman. Accused Bangaru Laxman stands convicted for the offence under Section 9 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.”
In an off white kurta, Laxman stood shell-shocked in the witness box as the judge pronounced the verdict and ordered the police to take the politician into judicial custody. He did not want to talk to any one and sat in the witness box for a long time while his daughter, who was in the court, looked on.
Laxman was taken to Tihar jail and will be produced in the court on Saturday at 10:30 am when the court hears arguments on the quantum of sentence. Soon after the verdict, Laxman’s counsel moved a plea seeking bail. The court, however, said, “After sentence only will I consider the aspect of bail.”
The sting operation, codenamed Westend, was conducted by news portal Tehelka.com with its scribes posing as representatives of a fictitious UK-based company West End International and seeking his recommendation to the ministry for supply of handheld thermal imagers, a fictitious device, for the Indian Army.
In its 155-page judgment, the court said had the deal been real, by taking such illegal gratification to get through a defence deal, Laxman would have compromised the security of the country. The judge said Laxman had accepted Rs one lakh bribe for the fictitious defence deal and had also agreed to take balance amount of Rs 4 lakh in dollars.
“Accused Bangaru Laxman on January 5, 2001, had accepted illegal gratification of Rs one lakh from Mathew Samuel, as chief liasoning officer of M/s Westend International and has further agreed to accept the balance amount (Rs 4 lakh) of illegal gratification in dollars as a motive or reward for exercise of personal influence on the public servants working with ministry of defence” the court said. The court trashed defence arguments that the money taken by Laxman was for the party fund and said that the contention was an “afterthought”. The court said that Laxman was then a party president and not a treasurer that he had to take money for the party fund. The court said that the sequence of meetings and Laxman informing the arm dealers about “passing the message” to the defence minister showed that he had an intention of taking that gratification.
Refusing to make Tehelka an accused in the case saying the scribes had “acted as whistle blowers” though the method adopted by them was “objectionable”. The judge said, “I am of the opinion that method adopted by Tehelka people may be objectionable but their purpose was not. It was accused Bangaru Laxman, who as president of BJP, despite being not related to the process of procurement or evaluation of any such product for Indian Army, did entertain the representatives of Westend International with the belief that theirs is an actual company. He assured them that he will find out what the defence secretary thinks and thereafter told them that message has been passed and accepted gratification.”
The court added that forensic reports of the video CD showed that no tampering or doctoring was done and the contents of the tape were in complete synchronization.
The FIR in the case was registered on Dec 6, 2006, against Laxman, his assistant personal secretary N Umamaheshwar Raju and personal secretary T Satyamurthy. Satyamurthy was granted pardon by a trial court after he turned an approver in the case, while the trial could not proceed against Raju due to lack of evidence.
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