Sc Issues Notices To Advani, Shukla In Hawala Case

The Supreme Court yesterday heard the appeal of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the hawala cases and issued notices to the accused, among whom are BJP president L K Advani, Congress leader V C Shukla and the Jain brothers whose diaries started it all.

Additional solicitor general Altaf Ahmad told the court that the kingpin in the hawala transactions, Amir Bhai, will be shortly brought to this country from Hong Kong, where he is now being held. He also said that the possibility of some witnesses turning approvers was also high.

The judges, however, asked counsel not to make submissions on the future course of action but explain what evidence was with the CBI apart from the notebooks, diaries and book of accounts showing the transactions. Ahmad said there were several other corroborating pieces of evidence, which the Delhi High Court had ignored when it discharged the accused by its April 8 judgment.

Counsel said the High Court had given a truncated interpretation of Section 34 of the Indian Evidence Act, which deal with books of accounts kept in the nature of business. This interpretation must be examined by the apex court, he pleaded. In reply to a question from the judges, the additional solicitor general said the diaries showed the exact date on which money was transferred and to whom. He gave a large compilation of the evidence to the court.

The division bench consisting of Justice M K Mukherjee, Justice S P Kurdukar and Justice K T Thomas will hear the full arguments on August 1, after replies from the accused. Only counsel for Advani was present in the court, who took notice of the court.

The court declined to pass any order on the several other hawala cases pending in the subordinate courts. According to Ahmad, there are 34 cases and those courts were discharging accused following the judgment of the High Court. The Supreme Court observed that it could not be helped.

The High Court had discharged Advani, Shukla and the Jain brothers, ruling that the entries in the diaries of the Jain brothers and the loose sheets were not admissible as evidence in a court of law. The special courts in Delhi took the same view and the hawala cases were facing a collapse in recent months.

The whole set of cases started when a journalist, Vineet Narain, filed a public interest petition in the Supreme Court three years ago. Though the case was heard several times by different benches, Justice J S Verma, before he became the Chief Justice, took active steps on the petition. He had continuously called the chiefs of CBI, revenue and income tax departments to the court, asking them what action they were taking on the basis of the diaries.

The CBI then chargesheeted several top politicians, which had a significant impact on the general elections. But later, those chargesheets were quashed by the high courts and other courts.

The CBI has appealed against this to the Supreme Court after a great deal of hesitation and controversies. The original petitioner Vineet Narain also pleaded to be impleaded today and the court asked him to file an application for that purpose.