Panaji: Hitting out at the Centre, BJP on Saturday said the clean chit to Vincent George, aide of Sonia Gandhi, in a disproportionate assets case, is another example of "use, abuse and misuse" of CBI and charged that it is using the premier agency to wind-up cases against its people.
"The clean chit to Vincent George by the CBI is yet another example of the political misuse of the agency by the Congress. It has used, abused and misused CBI," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here.
A case of alleged disproportionate assets against George has been closed by CBI citing insufficient evidence.
The CBI case was that George had allegedly amassed huge wealth after 1990 which included commercial and residential properties in posh South Delhi area, properties in Bangalore, Chennai, Kerala and agriculture land bordering Delhi besides cash of over Rs 1.5 crore in bank accounts.
CBI sources said the agency had sent judicial request to the United States seeking details of remittances which were allegedly received by George but it got only part information which could not be translated as evidence.
Javadekar said several scams are being probed by CBI which has tried to protect Congress leaders and ministers allegedly involved in them.
"This is becoming more rampant now as this is the last year of Congress rule and it is time for farewell," Javadekar said.
In his inaugural speech at the BJP National Executive, party president Rajnath Singh also alleged that the government has misused Constitutional institutions including the CBI.
Referring to the case of alleged vetting of the CBI status report on the coal scam, Singh said while the Supreme Court had directed that the report should not be shared with anybody except the court but still the then Law Minister had made changes in it.
"But the UPA government arm-twisted the CBI not only to share its report with the PMO officials and then the Law Minister also changed its content," Singh said.
BJP alleged that the UPA government has misused all constitutional institutions and posts without any hesitation, from CBI and CVC to the post of Governor or the appointments to the NHRC.
BJP was also critical of the kind of language used by some Congress spokespersons while attacking the opposition.
Asked about Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury`s remarks on the reported rift between Narendra Modi and L K Advani, Javadekar said, "All this is Modi-phobia which is being spelt out by the Congress in such a filthy language.
"Chowdhury had said that "Namonitis", a virus, had gripped BJP`s national executive.
CBI sources said the agency had sent judicial request to the US seeking details of remittances which were allegedly received by George but it got only part information which could not be translated as evidence.
Following these part responses, CBI moved Tis Hazari court on May 23 filing for withdrawal of case.
The sources said these transactions were suspected to be linked to hawala operations as the alleged illegal gratifications were first taken abroad and returned as gifts which was white money for George.
CBI had also sought details of "business transactions" by two firms which were allegedly run by George`s wife as they were suspected to be another route for converting alleged illicit wealth into white money.
The agency sources said the agency had pursued with the US authorities since 2002 to furnish the information but the part information resulted in withdrawal of the case.
PTI
