Why refer Denel deal to CBI: BJP

‘‘Why is the Government reluctant to make a disclosure about who these public servants are,’’ he asked. ‘‘If there are none,’’ he said, ‘‘the reference (of the case to the CBI) is an exercise in futility.’’

Jaitley claimed the reference was made by the Government to deflect attention from the Phukan Commission report, which has given a clean chit to former defence minister George Fernandes.

The former law minister listed several instances of alleged CBI misuse — failure to go in appeal against the ‘‘erroneous judgment’’ in Bofors case, refusal of sanction to prosecute former minister Satish Sharma, failure to appeal against a special judge order discharging JMM leader Shibu Soren in a disproportionate assets case and change of prosecutor in another disproportionate assets case against RJD leader Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Fernandes, on the other hand, said the UPA government’s move to have the CBI probe allegations of corruption in the NDA’s procurement of anti-material rifles from the South African firm Denel will ‘‘demoralise the Army’’ and is a ‘‘threat to national security.’’

Speaking at a seminar here, Fernandes said: ‘‘When the Army officers will have to appear before the CBI, it would demoralise them. Those who are illiterate on matters of security and defence of the country, and those who have an agenda of their own, weaken the nation’s security and will demoralise the Armed Forces.’’

About the CAG report, authored by V.K. Shunglu, which widely criticises the nature of Operation Vijay procurements, Fernandes said, ‘‘His point is that he knows better than the Armed Forces what they need, when and from where and how much they should procure it.’’

‘‘No Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) can refuse the demand for arms by the Army,’’ he said and charged Congress president Sonia Gandhi with ‘‘spreading lies’’ about defence procurements. ‘‘The Congress has been demoralising the Armed Forces for years, especially the Congress president has been spreading lies at every given opportunity.’’

‘‘The secular dispensation believes the secular chant gives them licence to create situations which can and will create fissures in the polity which will be exploited by the nation’s enemies to their advantage,’’ he said.