Agusta scam: SC to consider PIL on scribes' role

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider a PIL seeking a probe by a special investigation team into allegations of kickbacks of ¤6 million to some journalists here in the AgustaWestland scam.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Arun Mishra asked senior advocate Geeta Luthra to ensure serving of the copy of the petition filed by Hari Jaisingh, a journalist, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), for their response in the matter.

The court noted since it was already hearing a separate PIL by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan and T S Singhdeo for a probe into financial irregularities in the purchase of VVIP helicopters by some state governments, it did not prefer to issue any notice to the probe agencies.

Arguing for the petitioner, senior counsel Luthra submitted that the ongoing investigation into the scam must include the role of journalists here as it has been said that ¤6 million (approximately Rs 50 crore) was paid to them as an effort to manage the press.

“All those journalists who received money are liable for money laundering,” she contended.
The court, which did not issue any formal notice to the CBI or the ED, however, agreed to await their response.