Judiciary 'slow' in dealing with accused in securities scam

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, APRIL 27. The Income Tax Commissioner, Mr. C.P. Ramaswamy, said the judiciary was ``absolutely slow'' in dealing with the accused in the securities scam, Harshad Mehta and Hiten Dalal.

``Nine years have slipped by, but no action has been taken so far,'' said Mr. Ramaswamy, who was a member of the Janakiraman Committee that investigated into the scam which rocked the nation in the early 90's, regretted here on Friday.

Coming from the man who was delivering a lecture on ``Humour in Taxation'' organised by the Rotary Club of Hyderabad North, this was no laughing matter.

He said a similar case in Singapore involving stock broker, Nick Leeson, which led to the collapse of the United Kingdom-based Bearings Bank, was dealt with at amazing speed. ``Leeson who fled to Germany following the expose was brought back to Singapore, tried and sentenced. He has even completed his sentence last year,'' the Income Tax Commissioner, a lawyer himself, sighed.

The accused in the greatest Indian securities scam had got themselves a new lease of life, thanks to court stay orders. ``Leave alone the main accused, cases pertaining to those charged with smaller offences in the scam are yet to be resolved,'' he said. The Janakiraman Committee had submitted its final report way back in May, 1993.

Mr. Ramaswamy found a familiar script in the replay of the securities scam with the Ketan Parekh episode this year. ``It's an old game called kite flying where one opens different accounts in different banks and branches and rotates money. Keeping with deadlines is the bottomline of the game and it is here that they failed,'' he pointed out. The SEBI too had failed to check the downfall of the market consequent to the latest securities scam.

On investigations into the latest avatar of the securities scam, the Income Tax Commissioner said the Central Bureau of Investigation was not equipped to deal with economic offences. ``The lone Indian Revenue Service member on the CBI Board has no pivotal role to play in the investigations. His is just an advisory post,'' he said.

The recurrence of the scams of this magnitude can be stopped ``only if people in pivotal positions do not succumb to greed, the cardinal of sins,'' he rounded off on a philosophical note.

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Section  : Southern States
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