Of Corrupt Indians and Hillary Clinton
Sid Harth
Hillary took NRI痴 tainted fund: Lazio
Washington, Nov. 12: After losing the Senate race to First Lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton, Republican Rick Lazio has questioned the origins of
funds for her campaign and the credentials of an Indian who was a major
contributor.
After a New York daily reported the receipt of millions of dollars soft
money from a New York-based Indian American businessman, Sant Singh
Chatwal, Lazio called upon Hillary to hand over the funds to the US
Treasury.
Chatwal owed money to the US tax payers and instead gave it to
Hillary痴 campaign, a spokesman for Lazio, Michael Marr said. The daily
also listed several financial irregularities committed by the
businessman.
敵iven Ms Clinton痴 misuse of Lincoln痴 bedroom and Camp David to raise
funds, the latest revelation is not surprising, but it is still wrong.
It would be appropriate for Ms Clinton to hand over the funds to the
Federal Treasury,鋳 Marr said.
The funds came a week before Hillary and Lazio agreed to stop using
soft money for TV advertisements, according to the New York -based
daily, The Daily News.
The report said that in addition to his own contributions, Chatwal has
been a driving force behind large sums of money in donations from
Indian Americans for Hillary campaign since early this year.
The newspaper also reported as to how his contributions to her election
funds had its perquisites. Chatwal accompanied President Clinton and
Chelsea on their trip to India in March. He was a guest at a White
House State dinner for King Mohammed of Morocco in June, and played
host to a private party with the Clintons at his Manhattan penthouse in
September.
Chatwal a former aircraft carrier fighter pilot for the Indian defence
forces, is a US citizen now and has several New Yyork hotels.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1016000/1016965
.stm
Half of all Indians pay bribes
Most Indians say they have got used to corruption
Nearly half of all Indians using government services pay bribes to get
what they need.
This was revealed by an Indian anti-corruption watchdog, the Central
Vigilance Commission.
The survey carried out by the independent Centre for Media Studies
showed that government departments in the northern city of Lucknow and
the southern city of Hyderabad were the most corrupt.
More than 2,000 visitors to government offices were interviewed in five
cities across the country - New Delhi, Lucknow, Madras, Hyderabad and
Pune.
Most of the people surveyed said the most corrupt departments were
those that dealt with driving licences and civil supplies.
A member of the survey team told the BBC that the respondents were
given a brief questionnaire and asked to fill it out on the spot.
Widespread
In Lucknow and Hyderabad, about 60% of those interviewed said they had
handed out bribes as against 50% in Pune and 38% in Madras.
A third of those surveyed said they used influence to get the service
they required.
The business community and self-employed people topped the list of
those who admitted paying a bribe in exchange for a service.
But several government employees said they had also paid up.
Most people blamed politicians for the widespread corruption in India
and said it was made possible by a network of middlemen who acted as
conduits between the public and administrators.
But the survey team said most people had got used to corruption and did
not talk about it
The government departments covered by the survey included utilities
such as electricity and telephone services, as well as civil supplies,
driving licence and urban development offices.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_948000/948194.s
tm
Bribery conviction for ex-Indian PM
Mr Rao took over after the killing of Rajiv Gandhi
A court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has convicted the former prime
minister, PV Narasimha Rao, of corruption in a vote-buying scandal.
It is the first time an Indian leader has been convicted on corruption
charges.
Narasimha Rao leaving court: He originally denied the allegation
A former senior minister, Buta Singh, was also convicted in the same
case.
The two men were members of the Congress Party, which governed India in
the early 1990s.
They were found guilty of bribing four members of another party by
offering the equivalent of $800,000.
Another former minister, Satish Sharma, was acquitted.
The two men were attempting to persuade the regional Jharkhand Mukti
Morcha (JMM) party to back their government during a crucial
parliamentary vote of no-confidence in July 1993.
Sentences
Both men denied the allegation at the time.
Rao, who was present in court when the verdict was handed down, refused
to comment and left immediately.
However, Singh told the BBC that he would appeal against the decision.
He said it had been his duty at the time to gather support for Congress
and no crime had been committed in the process.
Sentences are expected to be passed in 10 days' time.
Lawyers say the sentence can range from five to 10 years in jail.
However, the BBC's Satish Jacob in Delhi says that Rao has had heart
problems, and the question of whether he is fit enough is bound to
become a key issue.
Rao became Congress party leader after the assassination of former
premier Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, and took over as prime minister after
elections the same year.
His term of office ushered in the liberalisation of the Indian economy.
He stepped down in 1996 after Congress lost the elections.
Analysts say the conviction will be another blow to the once-dominant
Congress party, which has seen a steady decline in its fortunes in
recent years.
Analysis: India's criminal politicians
Criminal threat to India's democracy
By South Asia analyst Alastair Lawson
PV Narasimha Rao, is the first Indian Prime Minister to be convicted in
a criminal case.
But few if any Indian politicians actually spend time in prison.
A recent study by the Indian Election Commission put the problem of
crime and politics in India into stark perspective.
It said that the nexus between the two threatened every area of the
nation's life.
As a newspaper report put it, the support of hardcore criminal gangs to
political parties and candidates had become an unsavoury reality.
Legal failure
The Indian Election Commission has in recent years tried to tackle the
problem by making it harder for candidates with criminal records to
stand for election.
Laloo Yadav: Still not convicted
But the trouble is that the cases against many candidates have not been
proved.
In fact, it is hard to find a single case of a politician being sent to
jail for corruption in independent India.
In early October, the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha,
was sentenced to three years in jail, but legal observers say that she
unlikely to serve her sentence in the immediate future because she can
spend many years appealing to higher courts.
Likewise the former chief minister of Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav, has
for many years been accused of wide-scale corruption yet has still not
been convicted, even though he has been detained on several occasions
for questioning.
Criminal MPs
Both Mr Yadav and Jayalalitha figured prominently in India's last
general elections as did other candidates well known for their criminal
activities.
MP Phoolan Devi - otherwise known as the Bandit Queen - was again
elected to parliament, despite a previous conviction for banditry and
possessing illegal arms.
Phoolan Devi: Elected despite a conviction
She was allowed to stand because her previous convictions were deemed
by election commission officials to have lapsed.
Even so, there are still numerous outstanding cases against her.
In the last general elections held in October, it's estimated that
around 1,000 candidates who were alleged to have committed a wide range
of crimes stood for election.
These varied from murder, theft and rape to extortion and banditry.
The states worst affected were Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and
Madhya Pradesh.
In the state of Uttar Pradesh alone, there were several hundred
candidates with alleged criminal connections.
In recent years there have been newspaper reports on a series of
kidnappings in the western part of the state, allegedly carried out to
meet the expenses of politicians.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_650000/650952.s
tm
Net shame for corrupt officials
Net users can now see lists of officials on-line
By South Asia analyst Nazes Afros
The man in charge of monitoring corruption in India has started what he
says is an extraordinary cyberwar against sleaze.
The Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Nagarajan Vittal, has started a
website which names top civil servants who he says should either be
prosecuted or be punished because of serious corruption offences.
The website of the chief vigilance commissioner (CVC) is likely to send
shock waves among top-ranking civil servants.
Up to 2,000 more names may appear on the site
It lists 185 officials who he recommends should either be prosecuted or
severely punished if they have already been found guilty of dishonesty.
The list contains the names of some top bureaucrats and police
officials.
Mr Vittal says that he is processing 2,000 more cases and those names
will appear in his website soon.
The CVC conducts enquiries against government officials after receiving
complaints of corruption.
On finding enough evidence, the CVC recommends either prosecution or
punishment to the concerned government department.
Warning
Mr Vittal says that he has created the web site in order to warn
officials that the CVC is alert and active.
"Ever since I became CVC, I have been trying to bring greater
transparency. Therefore, all the orders of the CVC which are in the
public domain have been put on the web site."
Corruption cases go back to 1991
Mr Vittal says he was constantly being questioned about whether or not
any action had been taken against senior officials accused of
corruption.
Mr Vittal's website list has a column showing the status of cases where
he has recommended action to be taken against named individuals.
He says that even though some of these recommendations were made as
early as in 1991 or 1992, government departments have still not begun
the judicial process.
Delays
He says that such delays are no longer acceptable.
"Once the names were published in the web site, some people said: Our
names are on the site but we have not been served with a charge sheet
under the departmental enquiry."
Departments being slow to act my indicate delay, or worse collusion
Nagarajan Vittal
He says this highlights the fact that the departments concerned, even
after receiving the CVC's recommendation for departmental action, have
been going slow.
"It may indicate probably inefficiency, therefore delay; or worse there
could be collusion. By delay they may try to protect people against
whom action has to be taken," he says
Mr Vittal says that naming individuals on his website is neither
defamatory nor a contempt of court.
He says that the names of many accused are already well known and in
the public domain.
He says that his website does not seek to pre-judge or condemn any
official before they have had a fair trial.
The Indian Government, meanwhile, has refused to comment on the step
taken by the CVC.
--
http://www.indiacyberportal.com/maintain.html
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Lone Lee
Nepotism is at the core of the so-called Nawabi culture...
and most of the civil servants of the early hyd-nizam administration
were imported from Lucknow, so it is befitting that luck and hyde
shd grab the top two slots in corruption.
the former shahi imam used to gloat that the muslims gave india
culture - surely, the culture of corruption and nepotism.
bahut shukriya,
badi meherbani
Sid Harth <bak...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:8ungv7$q0b$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> http://www.deccan.com/itop3.htm
>
> Hillary took NRI's tainted fund: Lazio
> Washington, Nov. 12: After losing the Senate race to First Lady Hillary
> Rodham Clinton, Republican Rick Lazio has questioned the origins of
> funds for her campaign and the credentials of an Indian who was a major
> contributor.
> After a New York daily reported the receipt of millions of dollars soft
> money from a New York-based Indian American businessman, Sant Singh
> Chatwal, Lazio called upon Hillary to hand over the funds to the US
> Treasury.
> Chatwal owed money to the US tax payers and instead gave it to
> Hillary's campaign, a spokesman for Lazio, Michael Marr said. The daily
> also listed several financial irregularities committed by the
> businessman.
> "Given Ms Clinton's misuse of Lincoln's bedroom and Camp David to raise
> funds, the latest revelation is not surprising, but it is still wrong.
> It would be appropriate for Ms Clinton to hand over the funds to the
> Federal Treasury,'' Marr said.
natha...@my-deja.com
WHAT are u trying to say ??Are indians corrupt(thats like stating
sunrises from east) or that indians are influencing americans
or are u just plain jealous that you are not as successful as chatwal!!!
In article <8ungv7$q0b$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
Lone Lee
and always discharges this verbal crap. don't mind, eh?
<natha...@my-deja.com> wrote in message news:8unp6m$am$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> sID hARTH
>
>
> WHAT are u trying to say ??Are indians corrupt(thats like stating
> sunrises from east) or that indians are influencing americans
>
> or are u just plain jealous that you are not as successful as chatwal!!!
>
>
>
> In article <8ungv7$q0b$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
> Sid Harth <bak...@my-deja.com> wrote:
> > http://www.deccan.com/itop3.htm
> >
> > Hillary took NRI's tainted fund: Lazio
> > Washington, Nov. 12: After losing the Senate race to First Lady
> Hillary
> > Rodham Clinton, Republican Rick Lazio has questioned the origins of
> > funds for her campaign and the credentials of an Indian who was a
> major
> > contributor.
> > After a New York daily reported the receipt of millions of dollars
> soft
> > money from a New York-based Indian American businessman, Sant Singh
> > Chatwal, Lazio called upon Hillary to hand over the funds to the US
> > Treasury.
> > Chatwal owed money to the US tax payers and instead gave it to
> > Hillary's campaign, a spokesman for Lazio, Michael Marr said. The
> daily
> > also listed several financial irregularities committed by the
> > businessman.
> > "Given Ms Clinton's misuse of Lincoln's bedroom and Camp David to
> raise
> > funds, the latest revelation is not surprising, but it is still wrong.
> > It would be appropriate for Ms Clinton to hand over the funds to the
> > Federal Treasury,'' Marr said.