In its eight-page order issued on Tuesday, the CVC has talked about the forwarded complaint it received from the Cabinet Secretary on August 24 this year about allegations including "serious allegations regarding functioning of CBI Director."
It lists three allegations that are "serious in nature having prima-facie vigilance angle which need to be examined quickly by seeking records from the CBI."
An allegation pertains to "payment of Rs 2 crore as bribe by Satish Babu Sana to Director CBI to avoid further interrogation in a case related to Moin Qureshi and others."
Another allegation is about "alleged interference and efforts of Director CBI to exclude one of the main suspects namely Rakesh Saxena" in a 2017 case related to IRCTC.
"It is also alleged that instructions were passed by Director CBI to Joint Director CBI Vineet Vinayak for not conducting search at the premises of Lalu Yadav. It is alleged that later, Director CBI was persuaded by the concerned officials in view of the extant court order, and Vinayak was allowed by the Director CBI at the last moment to take flight by a private Airline to conduct the search in the premises of Lalu Yadav," the order said.
The order lists efforts made by CVC to get records relating to the two cases and notes that these had not been submitted.
It also noted that report on a secret note had not been received even after a lapse of 10 months despite reminders.
"It may be observed that Director CBI has not been cooperating in making available the records/files sought by the Commission relating to certain serious allegations...In view of the non-cooperation and non-compliance, the commission is not able to discharge its function," the anti-corruption watchdog said.
The order said the CBI on September 18, 2018 referred to the "secret note" regarding CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana and informed the Commission that the concern on the integrity of the officer turned out to be true and also stated that it has found evidence of his criminal misconduct in at least half a dozen cases and the officer is aware of possession of evidence of his criminal misconduct by the Bureau.
The order said that the CBI requested that complaint of Asthana should be viewed as a desperate attempt by a tainted officer to intimidate the officers of the various ranks in CBI and such complaint may not be entertained.
The complaint was made by Asthana but the order does not reveal his identity and notes that 'it is presumptive on the part of CBI to state that a particular person has made complaint."
"The content of allegations made in the complaint is more important than the identity of complainant,' it said.
The order also said that Asthana had made several oral and written representations from time to time alleging that Verma is prejudiced and biased against him and trying to implicate him in certain cases and requested that in the interest of justice and fairplay, a Special Investigation Team consisting of officers other than Verma and A.K. Sharma Joint Director (P) be constituted.
The order said that an environment of hostility and factional feud had reached its peak in CBI, leading to potential loss of reputation and credibility. "The grave allegations of corruption by senior functionaries against one another have also vitiated working environment in the organisation which has deep and visible impact on other officers.'
The CVC said the order had been passed keeping in view the "extraordinary and emergent situation."
Another order was issued by the Department of Personnel and Training on Tuesday, divesting Asthana of "functions, powers, duties and supervisory role in any manner."
The DoPT order said that recent developments emerging from actions of Verma and Asthana have been under close examination of the central government.
It noted that the CVC has undertaken an inquiry into specified issues and is committed to staying neutral, independent and uninfluenced from anyone.
The order also talks of the central government invoking its powers due to "extraordinary and unprecedented situation."
The agency has decided to go in for development of the integrity index-based on bench-marking of internal processes and controls within an organisation as well as the management of relationships and expectations of outside stakeholders, an official release said today.
The integrity index will bring out annual scores and rankings of public sector undertakings, public sector banks and financial institutions, departments and ministries of the Government of India by linking the essential drivers of vigilance with long-term efficiency, profitability and sustainability of public organisations, the release said.
The index is aimed to create an internal and external ecosystem that promotes working with integrity in public organisations, it said.
"The CVC has adopted a research-based approach for creating an integrity index that various organisations can use to measure themselves and which will evolve with changing needs and with this view the IIM-Ahmedabad has been engaged to develop the integrity index," the release read.
Being a new initiative, initially 25 organisations have been selected for development of the integrity index.
Subsequently, it is proposed to extend the integrity index concept to all other organisations of the Government of India, the release said.
The 25 organisations are the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, NTPC Ltd, Eastern Coalfields, Western Coalfields, Steel Authority of India Limited, Punjab National Bank, Syndicate Bank, National Highways Authority of India and Railways Ministry, among others.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), South MCD, Food Corporation of India (FCI) and National Mineral Development Corporation are also among the initially selected organisations.
He said the commission has sought relevant data from income tax authorities in this regard.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 8 last year announced the scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
Citizens were provided a limited time window to deposit such notes in their bank accounts.
"We have already sought data (from the CBDT). We will get more refined data on which we will certainly proceed, said Chowdary to PTI.
The CBDT or Central Board of Direct Taxes is the apex policy-making body for the I-T department.
Chowdary said he had had discussions with tax authorities on how to conduct the exercise as the number of transactions involving cash deposits for the country as a whole is very huge.
So how do we see that whether the amount deposited by them (the employees) commensurates with their income or not
- Chowdary
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Because the CBDT is already doing this exercise for everybody, irrespective of (whether) somebody is an employee or non- employee. We have taken the help of the CBDT. We are yet to get (data)," he said.
The CVC expects the CBDT to provide more specific data on the deposits. "We had a series of discussions with them as to what kind of analysis we would like them (to do). They are cooperating with us. In fact, they have given us a lot of ideas," Chowdary said.
He said the tax authorities suggested that the CVC take data in the actionable form.
Chowdary said the exercise being carried out by the CBDT requires writing of programmes, validating them and then generating right outcomes.
He said the CVC will look into the cases of central government employees and the staff of central public sector undertakings who are within the jurisdiction of the commission.
The anti-corruption watchdog has select categories of employees, usually Group A and B officers, under its jurisdiction.
"In respect of people who are not within the jurisdiction of commission, if the amount involved is beyond a threshold, we will send it to our Chief Vigilance Officers (who act as distant arm of the CVC) to take necessary action," Chowdary said.
Asked about the reasons behind the proposal to scrutinise the bank accounts of employees, he said there could have been some wrong deposits, but specific individuals and details of organisations they are working in may not be known now.
Asked whether it would not be duplication of work, he said relevant data would be provided by the CBDT for the purpose.
"We are not duplicating. That is why we are getting refined data from the CBDT. That's why we said that you are anyway working on it ... That is why you share data of these (employees) people with us," Chowdary said.
In respect of individuals under its jurisdiction, the CVC also gets Suspected Transaction Reports (STRs) from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
Read More: Know why you have to pay less income tax in 2018!
The FIU is tasked with collecting, analysing and disseminating information related to financial transactions suspected to be involving black money or proceeds of crime.
In its report for 2016-17 released on August 30, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had said Rs 15.28 lakh crore or 99 per cent of the demonetised notes, had returned to the banking system.
The central bank in the annual report had said that only Rs 16,050 crore out of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore in the old, high-denomination notes had not returned.
The Modi government can keep shouting from the rooftops that there was ‘substance’ in at least six of the 10 charges of corruption and misconduct leveled against Verma till the cows come home. But after the emphatic assertion by Justice AK Patnaik, the highly respected retied Supreme Court appointed by the apex court to supervise the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) inquiry against Verma, that ultimately led to his exit, that there was ‘no evidence of corruption’ against the former CBI Director, no one except the diehard Modi fan and BJP supporter would believe the claim.
Justice Patnaik’s clarification, however, is not the only reason for this lack of trust. The government itself has done enough in the lead up to the dénouement on Friday to make its many acts of omission and commission suspect in the public eye. First, while sending Verma on leave on October 23 midnight, it could not have been unaware of the rule cited by the apex court to set aside Verma’s removal, which required the decision to be left to the high-powered three-member selection committee headed by the Prime Minister. Second, it was obvious that the Modi government was in a tearing hurry to pack Verma’ out of CBI when it shunted him out as Director General of Fire Services within 24 hours of the Supreme Court reinstating him. This in itself was enough to suspect that there was more to it than meets the eye. Third, more evidence of this undue haste came when the government convened the high-powered committee meeting, essentially called to ‘ratify’ a decision already taken, less than 48 hours after the SC verdict – and thrice within a span of 24 hours at that - even though the apex court had given a week’s time to it. The inference was loud and clear: the Modi government went after Verma with a vengeance because he had the ‘audacity’ to initiate a discreet inquiry into the Rafale deal worth billions of dollars.
Some pundits are saying Verma had no powers to initiate any such inquiry, ‘discreet’ or otherwise. But if past experience is anything to go by, ‘truth’ is often irrelevant in such cases. What really matters is perception. After all, no one has yet been found guilty of wrong-doing in the infamous Bofors case of 1987 after a seemingly endless probe that has already lasted over three decades. But does anyone in the country – except the diehard Gandhi family loyalist - seriously believe that everything was honky dory and no one was paid bribes to clinch the Rs. 64 crore deal? It is all about perception. And it is perception that is widely believed to have cost the Congress, which had won an unprecedented mandate under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi just five years before, defeat in the 1989 elections.
There is little doubt that the Rafale deal is fast turning out to be the Narendra Modi government’s ‘Bofors moment’ despite the clean chit given recently by the Supreme Court. If the government had thought that it had ‘weathered’ the storm well in time for the elections, l’ affaire Alok Verma has ensured that it will keep coming up to haunt it as it readies for the battle royale later this year. The court goes by evidence, people don’t.
The Modi government is clearly losing the battle of perception in the Rafale deal.
(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same)