Khushi Doshi
Published On ; February 23, 2022 at 15:02 IST
A special Court in Ranchi, which sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and 74 other convicts in the Doranda treasury fodder scam case on Monday, also directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to hand over all documents to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) because the assets purchased with the proceeds of the crime ‘could not be identified’ and remain ‘subject matter’ of investigation under the PMLA.
In his decision, special judge SK Shashi stated that the ED may confiscate such assets and launch an investigation within the confines of the law.
In its order, the judge referred to Edward Snowden, a computer intelligence consultant who worked for the National Security Agency (NSA) and exposed a US surveillance programme, saying, “The opinion of this court in respect of the present accused person (Lalu Prasad) can be summarised in the words of Snowden…’there can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny; they should be setting the example of transparency.”
The court quoted Mahatma Gandhi’s famous words: “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs but not every man’s greed”.
The special Court sentenced Lalu Prasad to five years in prison for Illegally withdrawing Rs 139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury in 1995-96, as well as imposing a Rs 60 lakh fine on the former Bihar Chief Minister.
Also Read- THE NITTY-GRITTIES OF FODDER SCAM