New Delhi: Former telecom minister A Raja on Tuesday claimed that he had never authorised any person to speak
or negotiate with judges on his behalf in any case after the
Madras High Court suspended from the bar a top lawyer for
allegedly attempting to influence a judge by taking his name.
"I have faith in judiciary as a lawyer and citizen. I
never interfered with the judiciary. I never authorised any
person including (suspended lawyer RK) Chandramohan, to speak
or to negotiate on my behalf to any judge in any case," Raja,
who had to quit from the Cabinet in the wake of the 2G scam, said to a news agency.
He said, "In public life, I have friends and
supporters but I never attempted interfering with the judicial
process through someone".
Asked if he was on the line when Chandramohan handed
over the phone to Justice S Reghupati, the DMK leader said, "I
was not on the line. I am not aware of it."
He claimed that he had for the first time heard
through the High Court judgement that his name had been
"dragged" in the case.
"As a lawyer and as a former minister I know about the
independence of the judiciary under the Constitution. I have
never worked to break the Constitution. I am a law-abiding
citizen. Whether I am a minister or not, law is supreme," Raja
said.
On his name cropping up in Justice Reghupati's letter,
Raja said, "That is upto Justice Reghupati... I am not a party
to anything.... he never said I spoke with him".
Maintaining that he was person of "integrity", he said
"I have my own defamation case before the Madras High Court
(against a magazine). When my interim application for a stay
in the case was dismissed with cost, I preferred to appeal to
a division bench which gave an order in my favour.
"This shows my integrity."
He refused to comment on the 2G scam spectrum
allocation case, saying the matter was subjudice.
A division bench of the High Court comprising justices
F M Ibrahim Khalifulla and M M Sundaresh, today said the
status of Chandramohan, a member and subsequently as Chairman
of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Pondichery, shall stand
suspended forthwith.
Disposing of a petition by a lawyer, the bench
appended a portion of a letter written by a former judge of
the court Justice S Reghupati, who had reported that
Chandramohan had entered his chamber last year and pleaded
that the case of a father and a son, accused in a marks
scandal case in Puducherry, for anticipatory bail be
considered favourably as they were "family friends of a Union
Minister by name Raja".
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 07, 2010, 20:14