NEW DELHI: Unable to locate former Petroleum Minister Satish Sharma for questioning in the JMM MPs bribery case who left for Slovenia on October 12, the CBI now hopes that he will return to the country on his own and cooperate in unearthing the conspiracy. What is curious is that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI first allowed Sharma to leave the country on October 10 although his aide B.N. Safaya had admitted two days earlier that the former Petroleum Minister acted as a conduit in the JMM bribery case. While sources in the CBI have talked about declaring Sharma a proclaimed offender butin reality this is a cumbersome procedure. The CBI cannot declare him a proclaimed offender or issue a red comer alert through the offices of the Interpol world over unless it is established that he i§ willfully avoiding his presence before the agency. A red comer alert means that airports all over the world will be asked to keep a vigil on the travel movements of Satish Sharma: so that he could be extradited.

According to sources, Sharma left Slovenia on October 17 for Europe after attending a conference of aero clubs. Sharma is the president of the Flying Club in the Capital. The Indian embassy there could not provide any clue to the CBI about the destination of Sharma and his wife, Sterra. Safaya’s interrogation was undertaken by the SIT for four days at a stretch in the first week of October during which he disclosed that Sharma received money from various industrial houses and part of it was passed on to the JMM MPs. Instead of acting swiftly on the disclosures made by Safaya, the SIT adopted a peculiar procedure to conduct investigation into the case thereafter, it did not issue warrants against Sharma and raided his premises the same day. Instead, it allowed Sharma to leave the country with his wife on October 10. When Sharma left the country after clearing the premises, the CBI raided his premises in the Capital and elsewhere on October 12. What made the SIT give vital four days to Sharma’s to leave the country after clearing the premises is not explained. The SIT did not keep a close watch on the movements of Safaya either who kept Sharma posted on what he had testified before the CBI. Satish Chandra, who is heading the SIT, failed to explain why the CBI allowed the Sharma’s to leave the country and later raided their premises. He claimed that some of the industrialists who were summoned by the agency had confessed to having given money to Sharma.

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 30, 1996