Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh is in the dock after investigations into the Rs 3000-crore Ludhiana City Centre scam has now shown a hawala trail with the alleged kingpin, Chetan Gupta, making an admission on camera about the involvement of Amarinder Singh's family in hawala operations. While the authenticity of the videographed testimony is yet to be established, Amarinder Singh tells his side of the story in an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN from London. Excerpts:
CNN-IBN: Do you know Chetan Gupta, Mr Singh?
Amarinder Singh: Absolutely, I know him. I know his family for several generations. I have known his father and grandfather personally.
CNN-IBN:Is he a hawala operator?
Amarinder Singh: Absolutely not. Not that I know of at all. And I don't think so. He is a young boy. He is even younger to my son. I don't expect anything like that from him.
CNN-IBN:Are you saying the charges made by the Punjab vigilance against Chetan Gupta are all false?
Amarinder Singh: Please understand one thing. Vigilance is an instrument of the state and it is really the Chief Minister (Prakash Singh) Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal who are pushing this case.
CNN-IBN: But Sukhbir Singh Badal says you instituted the vigilance enquiry into the Ludhiana City Centre scam to clear your own name by fixing it and that the revelations were not made by Prakash Singh Badal Government but by your own man, Chetan Gupta?
Amarinder Singh: You know, Chetan Gupta doesn't even know where Ludhiana City Centre is. Neither do these other people charged in the case. They are trying to rope in my finance minister, who knows nothing about it. They are trying to rope in my media adviser, who knows nothing.
You coax them, you thrash them. Chetan Gupta was in police custody for nine days. He was beaten from morning to evening. He was made to sign and make statements and do everything whatever they wanted. My media adviser got bail yesterday (Saturday). They used electric shocks on his genitals and all for three days, trying to fix him.
Just to get a statement on the Ludhiana Centre, they seem to be going berserk. The Ludhiana City Centre was a prestigious project for Punjab, which was done in a completely transparent manner. What happened was when some sales were taking place, there was a sting operation. When the sting operation happened, I was the one who called in the IB (vigilance) and told him that he will personally go into the matter and produce a report for us. That report was given to me in January and in February, the elections came. We did everything to protect the interest of the state.
CNN-IBN:Here is a specific charge against you? On July 25, 2003 your son Raninder Singh allegedly made a hawala transfer of $100,000 or Rs 48.5 lakh to Leonard Freeke in Holland. How do you react to that?
Amarinder Singh: Let me tell you this. Mr Leonard Freak has given a statement. Everybody has given statements. The ED has gone into the whole business. A double-bench of the Punjab High Court also sat on this and has given a 160-page judgement on it, saying that it is all fraud and a politically motivated case. Now, after all that had happened, suddenly this issue comes up again. I don't understand the sense.
CNN-IBN: All right. Here is another charge. On October 31, 2003, your son again allegedly transferred another $100,000 to a man called Kim Sinha, who transferred it to Sachin Duggal - who was setting up the Punjab Intranet - who then passed it on to Leonard Freeke again.
Amarinder Singh: The fact is his pen drive or software or whatever was picked up. After coming out of police custody, Mr Gupta has told the court that he was made to sign statements which he had not read. He was made to sign on blank papers and his entire software was taken away and he didn't know where it had gone. You give me a pen drive and I will give it to a software company and put the entire Badal family into it. What is the big deal in this?
CNN-IBN: And do you know Kim Sinha and the transaction that was made with him?
Amarinder Singh: Please understand one thing. This company doesn't exist. There is no such thing as Punjab Intranet. The whole thing, which was being made into a scam, was brought about by Mr Sukhbir Badal when we were in government and he was in the Opposition. It was the Akali MLAs and ministers who went to court on this. And the judge had very clearly stated in his judgement that it smacked of political vendetta.
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