25 Feb :Former Union Communications Minister Sukhram was sentenced to three years imprisonment in a 13-year-old disproportionate assets case by a Delhi Court which observed that a corrupt public servant is a menace to society.
The court ordered the forfeiture of Rs.4.25 crore amassed by Sukhram, 82, during his tenure as a Cabimet minister in the P V Narasimha Rao government and slapped a fine of Rs two lakh.Sukhram, who was granted bail by Special CBI Judge V K Maheshwari, said he would appeal against the conviction in the Delhi High Court.
In his six-page order, the judge made scathing remarks on political corruption."A corrupt public servant is a menace to the society. Political corruption is the worst form because its consequences are far reaching. When our leaders who are the role models of the society, whose every action should be above the board, are themselves corrupt, how can we expect honesty and virtue from public at large.CBI had during a raid conducted in August, 1996, seized Rs.2.45 crores in cash stashed in his bed at his official residence in Delhi and Rs.1.16 crore from his house in Mandi in Himachal Pradesh.Sukhram escaped the maximum jail term of seven years for the offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act which was pressed by the CBI."The need of the hour is that the cancer of corruption should be immediately checked," the judge observed while pronouncing the quantum of sentence.The judge said "If the public servants are corrupt, the whole structure of the society would get upset and the policies of the government, howsoever beneficial it may be, would be adversely affected."
It said the CBI has proved that Sukhram had accumulated disproprotionate assets to the tune of Rs 4.25 crore beyond his known sources of income and the former minister could not satisfactorily explain how he acquired so much wealth.
Sukhram had contended that the cash with him was meant for Congress party fund but this was refuted then by senior Congress leaders.
Justifying its direction for forfeiture of Rs.4.25 crore, the judge observed, "Corrupt public servants should not be allowed to reap the benefit of the crop of corruption sowed by them by corrupt means".
Sukhram was holding the key Communications portfolio at the time of the telecommunication revolution in the country.
"I have never seen so much of cash all my life," recalled the then CBI director Joginder Singh during whose tenure the agency conducted the searches on Sukhram’s premises.
The judge observed that the welfare of the society could be ensured only through "honest and incorrupted public servants".
The court, which had differed with CBI’s computation of Sukhram’s disproportionate assets, said "the cancer of corruption has eaten entirely the vitals of Indian society. It has already done immense damage to our society".
In its 150-page judgement on 20th February, the court had reduced the amount of Sukhram’s disproportinate assets from Rs 5.36 crore to Rs 4.25 crore.
His illegal assets were amassed during 1991 to 1996, according to the prosecution.