PM okays Puducherry LG questioning in Hasan Ali case

Within 12 hours of his meeting with Union home minister P Chidambaram, the Prime Minister gave the Enforcement Directorate the go-ahead to question Iqbal Singh, the lieutenant governor of Puducherry, for his alleged links with suspected money launderer Hasan Ali Khan.

The home ministry had sent to the PMO the ED’s request to interrogate Singh. This is the first time in the history of independent India that the highest constitutional authority in a state will be questioned by a force that investigates foreign exchange crimes and money laundering charges. Singh will be questioned in the Raj Bhavan in Puducherry.

This is the fourth time in the recent past that a Raj Niwas has become the subject of a criminal investigation. Although no case was filed against then Andhra Pradesh Governor N D Tiwari for entertaining young women there (captured on camera in a sting operation), he was asked to resign. In 2009, Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi found his residence a subject of a police probe after the Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case of corruption against his aide. In 2009, the aide to Punjab Governor S F Rodrigues was questioned in connection with several land deals. That investigation is still on.

Yesterday, the Congress party flatly denied any role in Singh’s appointment and said the matter was between the LG and the government. However, privately, sources in the party wondered why the LG had not been asked to resign.

The ED wanted to question Singh after his name came up during the questioning of a Bihar-based Congress leader, Amlendu Pandey, in connection with the recommendation for expeditious issuance of a passport to Khan, 53, a Pune stud farm owner who is facing tax evasion and money laundering charges.

Singh has admitted to have recommended the expeditious issue of passport to Khan (in 1997, when he was a Rajya Sabha member, from the Congresss party) but claimed he never knew him. The LG had met Chidambaram and explained his position. “The LG is willing to make a statement to the ED,” Chidambaram had later stated.

Singh had claimed he asked for the passport to be granted on humanitarian grounds because he had been told that Khan needed to travel abroad urgently to visit his ailing brother.

Khan, arrested last month, has been accused of stashing upto $8 billion in foreign bank accounts. He is also being investigated for links with international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.