Pune: Amidst Congress accusing social
activist Anna Hazare of corruption citing Justice PB Sawant
Commission report, his lawyer said the Commission did not hold
the Gandhian guilty of any wrongdoings.
Justice PB Sawant who had investigated the complaints
against Hazare`s Hind Swaraj Trust had remarked about
"irregularities" in submission of accounts and not held him
guilty of any "corrupt" practices, Hazare`s lawyer Milind
Pawar said in a statement here.
Sawant, whose probe found that an amount of Rs 2.2 lakh
was diverted from Hazare`s trust for his birthday
celebrations, has said this action amounted to "corruption".
Pawar said when a US-based NGO Care International
announced an award for Hazare, it was decided to felicitate
him on June 16, 1998, coinciding with his 61st birthday.
"Abhay Phirodia, a Pune-based industrialist took the
initiative to organise the function and remitted an amount of
Rs 2,48,950 to the trust by cheque soon after the function for
which the trust had spent Rs 2.18 lakh," he said.
Pawar said after the report of Justice Sawant was
released in 2003, a complaint was filed with Pune police on
December 9, 2005.
Police, in their report submitted to the court, stated
there was no evidence of corruption on part of Hazare, the
lawyer claimed.
The judge subsequently discharged Hazare on July 12, 2011
after the complaint against the Gandhian was withdrawn by one
Hemant Patil, who had filed it, Pawar stated.
The Charity Commissioner`s office had also withdrawn its
notice given to the trust for irregular submission of accounts
in July 2011 with a "written apology", he said.
Earlier in the day, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari had
cited Justice PB Sawant Commission report and said it had
ripped apart the "moral core" of Hazare as it "found him
steeped in corruption from head to toe".
Meanwhile, the 74-year-old anti-graft crusader said he
will not call of his proposed fast on Lokpal issue.
PTI
