NEW DELHI: IT has long been speculated that P, V. Narasimha Rao played significant role in the St Kitts. Controversy of 1989, in which attempts were made, allegedly by the Rajiv Gandhi government, to accuse VP. Singh’s son Ajeya Singh of maintaining an undisclosed bank account in the Caribbean island of St Kits, The alleged beneficiary of that account was V.P. Singh, Did Rao, who was. “Then external affairs minister, play ‘any part in those attempts which were Tater abandoned? He apparently did, although it could not be established that he knew the full dimensions of the alleged conspiracy, says an official but secret report prepared after ‘extensive inquiries.

‘The secret report on the St Kitts episode was submitted to the government {by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBN), its contents have so far not been disclosed by any government. Information available with this newspaper suggests that the CBI not only detailed the full story in its 141page (plus appendices) report it listed all the dramatists personate involved in what the CBI concluded was an. exercise by the Enforcement Directorate “designed to cause harassment to an individual (Ajoya Singh) and to tarnish his image and that of his father, V.P. Singh.

Mr. Narasimha Rao, according to the CBI, asked India’s consul general in New York, R.K. Rai, to authenticate a key document signed by George McLean, a former managing director of the bank, the First Trust Corporation Ltd of St Kitts’, On being asked by Rai whether he should inform the Indian ambassador about the matter, Rao said: “No.” Interestingly, the report says that a particular phone number was frequently called from Rao’s hotel room during his stay in New York (See page 9). The number belonged to Adnan Khashoggi, the international arms dealer, at whose apartment Chandraswami and his associate K.N. Agarwal, aka Mamaji, were reportedly staying then, A key player in the episode was Larry Kolb, described in the report, at different places, as a “friend” of Rajiv Gandhi and as Mr. Khashoggi’s son-in-law.

After allegations about the bank account in St Kitts had surfaced in the press in the Kuwait newspaper, and some Indian newspapers the enforcement directorate went into action to obtain a reply to the charges from Ajeya Singh. On September 26, 1989, The Hindustan Times ran an article which said, inter alia:”Mr. George McLean, former managing director of the First Trust Corporation Lid, the St Kitts bank where the Janata Dal president Vishwanath Pratap Singh’s son, Ajeya Singh, has allegedly opened an account, confirmed aba the account number 2970 had existed in his bank.

On September 27, the ministry of ‘finance sanctioned the deputation of A.P. Nanday, deputy director of enforcement, and R.K Dubey, enforcement officer, to the UK, the USA and the Caribbean islands for a week. It ‘was in the US that external affairs ministry officials and Rao appeared to assist the efforts of Nanday to “authenticate”’ a statement by McLean.

Says the CBI report in para (xxix) of its concluding remarks: “Discreet enquiries in New York revealed that Narasimha Rao, the then Minister for.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 7, 1996