Tehelka judge says George did no wrong, Opp cries unfair

Justice S N Phukan, chairman of the Tehelka Inquiry Commission, today submitted the first part of his ‘‘secret’’ report ...

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Justice S N Phukan, chairman of the Tehelka Inquiry Commission, today submitted the first part of his ‘‘secret’’ report containing findings of 15 past Defence transactions to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Though he clarified that there is no connection between the tapes and the report presented today, his response to a question that there was no impropriety on the part of Fernandes set off smiles and celebration in the NDA and protesting voices in the opposition.

The 594-page report has examined 15 Defence deals which included Sukhoi, Ajt, Barak missiles, T-90 tanks, hand-held thermal imagers, light-weight binoculars, tank navigation systems, simulators, Karl Gustav rocket and Kandla-Panipat pipeline. These Defence deals pertained to the period between 1981-2000. Asked about the role of middlemen, Justice phukan said he would be dealing with that in the second part of his report.

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Justice Phukan said Part I of his report was written after examining 507 secret Defence files and evidence of 26 wintesses. Asked whether these 15 deals had anything to do with the Tehelka tapes, he answered in the negative saying the tapes have been sent for forensic examination abroad and the report is expected only by the middle of March.

Questioned by the media, Defence Minister George Fernandes today described the sting operation as a “motivated rubbish” and voiced confidence that political forces that backed the “malicious campaign” would be exposed.

‘‘Did I have anything to clarify? Ever since the Tehelka rubbish came out those who wanted to malign me used this as well as the coffins issue to tarnish my image,’’ said the Defence minister who had quit immediately after the Tehelka tapes were made public in March, 2001. Opposition today attacked the Justice Phukan Commission, saying its reported findings giving a clean chit to Defence Minister George Fernandes are a ‘‘scandal by themselves.’’

‘‘There was absolutely no scope for Justice Phukan… Justice Phukan referred the tapes to a foreign firm whose identity is not known to anybody except Fernandes and government of India,’’ Congress spokesperson Jaipal Reddy said.

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Reddy said the Congress party was “unrepentant” about its stand on the issue. ‘‘Fernandes is a great sinner. Vajpayee is a bigger sinner because he has brought the sinner back to the cabinet,’’ he said. RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said nobody would trust the findings of the Phukan Commission as it was set up to “give a clean chit” to Fernandes.

Questioning the timing of the report, he said the findings giving a “favourable judgement” has been submitted just before the polls so that Fernandes could go to people with a “clean image”. ‘‘We have been boycotting him in Parliament.Now people will boycott him. There is no doubt about it,’’ Singh said.– (with agencies)