A packed New Delhi courtroom sat in rapt silence this week as an irate Supreme Court judge denounced the elite Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's version of the American FBI, as a "caged parrot" and "its master's voice".
Justice R.M. Lodha loudly berated the attorney-general, the government's top lawyer, for what he said was clear evidence of interference in a CBI inquiry into alleged irregularities in the allocation of coalfield licences to private companies, a case dubbed "Coalgate" by the Indian media.
The Supreme Court judge's statement gave, for the first time, an authoritative voice to opposition complaints that for years India's Congress party-led government had been using the investigating agency to cover up wrongdoing, keep fickle coalition allies in line and political opponents at bay.
(...)
It has given ammunition to anti-corruption campaigners who say political interference in the CBI reinforces the need for an independent anti-graft body that can investigate corruption involving government officials. Legislation to set up such an agency is stalled in parliament.
Two former CBI directors told Reuters that the agency was subject to political influence, irrespective of which party happened to be in power at the time.
"The political class will never give independence to the CBI," said former director Joginder Singh, who says he was forced out after refusing to back off from an investigation into a chief minister of the eastern state of Bihar in the 1990s. Full story...
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Justice R.M. Lodha loudly berated the attorney-general, the government's top lawyer, for what he said was clear evidence of interference in a CBI inquiry into alleged irregularities in the allocation of coalfield licences to private companies, a case dubbed "Coalgate" by the Indian media.
The Supreme Court judge's statement gave, for the first time, an authoritative voice to opposition complaints that for years India's Congress party-led government had been using the investigating agency to cover up wrongdoing, keep fickle coalition allies in line and political opponents at bay.
(...)
It has given ammunition to anti-corruption campaigners who say political interference in the CBI reinforces the need for an independent anti-graft body that can investigate corruption involving government officials. Legislation to set up such an agency is stalled in parliament.
Two former CBI directors told Reuters that the agency was subject to political influence, irrespective of which party happened to be in power at the time.
"The political class will never give independence to the CBI," said former director Joginder Singh, who says he was forced out after refusing to back off from an investigation into a chief minister of the eastern state of Bihar in the 1990s. Full story...
Related posts:
- " Politicians in India have looted the country more than the British did..."
- The $34 billion Coalgate scandal: will India ever be able to tackle corruption?
- Inside story: India's corruption exposed...
- Indian government accused of 'looting the country' over coal...
- How India was plundered by the rich and the powerful...
- Corruption has cost India $462 billion...
- "30% Indians totally corrupt, 50% borderline ..."
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