Govt says IB does not have any material on Scorpene deal

New Delhi, Dec 6 (UNI) The Union Government today submitted before the Delhi High Court that Intelligence Bureau(IB) did not have any material pertaining to the Scorpene submarine deal and Navy War room leak allegedly involving Abhishek Verma and others.

A division bench of Cheif Justice M K Sharma and Justice Hima Kohli asked the Government to state the facts in an affidavit by January 11, the next date of hearing.

The Court adjourned the matter saying that the issue needed greater attention.

The CBI submitted its report in a sealed cover.

Senior Counsel Prashant Bhushan appearing for Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), the petitioner, alleged in the PIL that one of the accused had sent an e-mail to the French Company manufacturing the submarine on behalf of the ruling Congress party.

The e-mail had been seized by the IB, in which the accused allegedly demanded four per cent commission for striking the deal on behalf of the Congress party.

Counsel appearing for Outlook magazine Editor Vinod Mehta filed his reply in an affidavit in response to the allegation made by the government that it failed to publish a rejoinder with regard to a lead story on kickback in Scorpene submarine deal.

The Government submitted that the magazine while publishing a story on alleged corruption in the Scorpene deal failed to record the version of the government.

The Government Counsel said even the magazine did not bother to publish a rejoinder submitted by the government.

Various government agencies including the IB were involved in investigating the war room leak case and in February 2006, the authorities had decided to hand over the case to the CBI for initiating criminal proceedings against the dismissed Naval officers and civilians, said the petition filed by Mr Bhushan.

Retired Navy officers Ravi Shakaran, Kulbhushan Parashar and businessman Abhisek Verma were accused of being involved in the war room leak case, said Senior Counsel Prashant Bhushan appearing for the petitioner.

''It is apparent from the documents filed in the war room leak case that the CBI has found all the evidence in the course of investigation except the seizures by the IB,'' said the petition.

The IB had procured several e-mails, telephone records related to the Scorpene deal and these were not the part of the evidence produced by the CBI, said the petition.

UNI PAT BDP DB1854