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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, February 20: Justice S N Variava, adjudicating the securities scam, came down heavily on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) while hearing Bhupen C Dalal’s application, a notified party in the scam.
The case, which seeks the court’s direction to force the CBI to further investigate certain transactions, has been adjourned till March 5. Arguing the case here on Friday, counsel for CBI, VC Gupte, stated that there is "no further question of court directive" in the case and further investigation should be left to the discretion of the agency. According to Gupte, the court cannot direct to investigate an aspect of a case as it would amount to the court taking charge of the investigation.
During the course of argument, Variava asked Gupte "whether it will not be relevant to know in a case, where the money was siphoned off, if the bank (SCB) was dealing in such transactions for a long time with the knowledge of the higher ups".
Variava also enquired whetherit will not be pertinent to know if the bank (read SCB) knowingly violated the norms and burnt its fingers and also if it has taken money from others in the same manner.
The court felt that making adjustments was not the banking practice and if there is any fraud, every single higher up (in SCB) is liable. "The CBI should be investigating similar transactions carried out by the bank with others and if this is not done then I am sorry to say that the agency is not doing its job," Variava observed. The judge felt the agency is ignoring what the Janakiraman committee report and the joint parliamentary committee report found. Dalal, in his application, has questioned how Rs 889 crore of SCB disappeared.
