the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh said that he had earlier made a statement on this subject in the House on March 18, 2011.
Further he said : “I reiterate that it is not possible for the Government of India to confirm the veracity or the contents of such communications. If they exist, they would be communications from US diplomats stationed in Delhi to their government in Washington. It is not open to us to enquire from either of the two regarding the communications they exchanged among themselves. In my statement of 18th March, 2011 I had also stated that many of the persons referred in those communications have strongly denied their veracity”.
He outrightly rejected the allegation of bribery and said that these allegations were investigated by a Committee constituted by the 14th Lok Sabha and the Committee had concluded that there was insufficient evidence to draw a conclusion of bribery.
“I am convinced that taking the report as a whole, this is a correct inference,” he said.
With a view to substantiate his statement, the Prime Minister referred to the following comments made by the then Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Som Nath Chatterjee while introducing the report in the House on December 16, 2008
“Material on record does not conclusively prove that the money contained in the bag, which was eventually displayed in the House, was actually sent by the persons who were alleged to have sent it for the purpose of winning over Shri Ashok Argal, Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste and Shri Mahavir Bhagora to vote in favour of Motion of Confidence. The Committee have, however, found the evidence given before the Committee by three persons involved in this episode as unconvincing, and the Committee have suggested that their role in the matter needs to be investigated by investigating agencies.
I am accordingly, referring the matter pertaining to the said three persons to the Honourable Minister of Home Affairs for appropriate action in the light of the recommendations of the Committee.”
The Prime Minister further said that in its recommendations in paragraph 168 of the report, the Committee has observed as follows :—
“The Committee after taking into account their findings and conclusions in the matter (as detailed in para 141 particularly at (xiv to xvii) relating to roles of Shri Sanjeeva Saxena, Shri Suhaib Hindustani and Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni recommend that this matter may be probed further by an appropriate investigating agency.”
Dr Singh said that the matter was referred to the Delhi Police for investigation and further investigation was in progress.
He said that he would like to make it clear once again that none from the Congress party or the government indulged in any such unlawful act during the trust vote in 2008. “We have not been involved in any such transaction and we have not authorized any one to indulge in such transactions”, he said