Letters: An 'impartial' CBI

With reference to the editorial, "Murky defence deals" (May 3), the alleged involvement of some top leaders of the Congress in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal has to be impartially investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). But the revelation of some prominent names by an Italian court has put the Opposition party on the back foot.

There's an old saying, "Where there's smoke, there's fire". The Congress can't douse this fire by taking political shelter in its usual stance of being a victim of "vindictive" government policies. It will have to defend itself with some incontrovertible documentary evidence.

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The editorial comments on the past performance of the CBI by citing some defence deal cases it failed to crack. Regarding the editorial's remark that the "failures point to weaknesses in CBI's sleuthing abilities", it appears that it was largely at the mercy of the powers that be at that time.

The CBI is probing into the alleged bribery "facilitated" by Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland's Italian parent, of some bigwigs in India. The first person on the list is former Air Force chief S P Tyagi.

Just the fact that arms dealing is scarcely transparent and pay-offs mostly involve complex deals in offshore tax havens does not imply that money laundering should be legalised in India.

I agree with the editorial's suggestion that instead of pursuing political vendetta, the government should "empower" the CBI to investigate the AgustaWestland deal without fear or favour. What about granting full statutory autonomy to the CBI?

Vinayak G, Bengaluru

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