gfiles’ continuing focus on corruption in both the public and corporate life of this nation goes to the very heart of what this magazine has stood for and will continue to stand for. When we repeatedly remind our readers that we champion the cause of good governance, we mean, primarily, governance free of venality, mismanagement, waste, fraud and dishonesty. Together these attributes create not only inefficiency and moral turpitude but, more important, they also combine to promote and perpetrate mass poverty, inequalities, the absence of justice and fairplay and, ultimately, economic disaster. In the history of all nations, massive corruption has preceded their downfall.
So Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was hardly off the mark when he recently reminded the nation that those at the helm of its affairs – including himself – need to be, like Caesar’s wife, cleaner than a hound’s tooth. Fine words, but what do they mean in practice with the 2G spectrum scam and the appointment of the tainted PJ Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner refusing to get off centrestage and giving a handle to every political hack in the country to take a whack at the government?
Apologists in the government throw up their hands and say that it is easy to point fingers and make accusations, but how about some constructive suggestions. Actually, there are many. And several of them have been featured in the pages of this magazine from time to time – the opinions and suggestions of retired bureaucrats, serving officials, whistleblowers and columnists. In continuation of this tradition, we are featuring an Open Letter to the Prime Minister from BR Lall, former Director General of Police, Haryana, and Joint Director, CBI.
Lall is worth listening to. He argues, for example, that Telecom Minister A Raja was guilty of criminal breach of trust in the way he handled the spectrum allocation – a public trust – and should have been prosecuted under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code with life imprisonment. Also, he should have been dropped immediately from the Ministry so that he would not be able to influence the department further, fiddle with the files, and destroy evidence.
By not taking timely action, Lall argues, the government was party to facilitating the crime, omitting the legal duty imposed on it and committing an offence of abetment under Section 107 (3) of the IPC, notwithstanding any excuses, including that of the “compulsions” of a coalition government.
Calling the appointment of Thomas a “very obnoxious affair”, Lall comments: “The highest watchdog of integrity and morals in the country cannot be facing criminal charges himself. Your government has not accorded sanction for prosecution, without which no trial can commence. Punishing the high and mighty for corruption or related cases is not a done thing in India. Corruption, exploitation, tax evasion, misappropriation of public funds are treated as perquisites of VIPs.”
Amen. Lall hits it right on the head. But his letter makes even more interesting reading because of the concrete, tough suggestions he makes regarding measures that should be adopted by any government that really means business. All gfiles readers will benefit from the recommendations made by this intrepid former cop.
