‘Table Phukan report or I move court’

Fernandes also wrote a letter today to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee in which he said, ‘‘I request you to direct the government to fulfill its commitment and lay the report before Parliament immediately.’’ In a note attached to the letter, Fernandes said that Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s suo moto statement in Parliament on May 4 had ‘‘unwittingly perhaps, given a clean chit to me for the second time.’’

When asked if there would be anyone from the NDA to respond to questions in Parliament in case the Phukan Commission report was tabled on Monday, Fernandes said, ‘‘The NDA boycott is for other reasons. Besides, the report is 700 pages long. It will take a long time for them to go through it.’’

Reports have emerged that the Phukan Commission’s virtual clean chit to Fernandes on allegations of dubious defence procurements as part of the Tehelka scam, was the result of an allegedly unnecessary trip Justice Phukan made with his wife and Commission members as a guest of the Armed Forces and Defence Ministry, which he was investigating.

Debunking Justice Phukan’s submission that he had never asked for air transport, but simply stated his requirement to visit these places as part of the Commission’s investigation, Fernandes said that a request for the IAF Avro aircraft came from the Commission itself, and not from his ministry.

‘‘The file containing the request for an aircraft landed upon my table with all other files. At some level, someone must have made the request. Nobody in my department or ministry suggested this. Someone from the Commission made the request for an aircraft,’’ Fernandes said.

He added, ‘‘What if I had said no? Then I would have been accused of obstructing justice. Anyway, it was within my authority to sanction the aircraft, and I used my authority. It was my duty to respond to his request.’’ Fernandes had sanctioned use of the aircraft for the Phukan Commission’s visit on December 22, 2003 for five days.