April 9,2011

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Panjim I April 9, 2011 I Postal Reg. No. Goa 101 I Price Rs. 3.00 I Air Surcharge Rs 2 I Pages 16+8

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CHuRCHILL wARNs CoNGREss AGAINsT IGNoRING ENGLIsH >> P4

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for each BaBUSh There are haZar-e aNNaS Herald Pic

For brazen Monserrate, the figures just don’t add up l CM plays ignorant, pretends all is well l Babush’s explanations raise more questions l

SuJAY GuptA Panjim, April 8: Babush Monserrate has no answers to many questions, has wrong answers to others and if he has neither, he simply makes

up and hopes the pressure will pass. It’s been a week after Goa’s Education Minister was held by the Customs department in Mumbai, and foreign and Indian currency worth Rs

24,33,522 seized from his and his “friend/employee”, in the “reasonable belief that the same was being attempted to illegally export out of India under the Indian Customs Act, read with FEMA” and its

various offshoots. Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, initially kept the media at bay on April 2, on the pretext that Monserrate had kept his phone off. After >Continued on pg 11

TEAM HERALD Margao/Panjim, April 8: The

Customs grills Babush on ‘Dubai-bound money’ Monserrate links cash withdrawal of Rs 10 lakh to purchase of dirhams l Case will go for adjudication to decide if this was ‘smuggling’ l Detailed FEMA investigation not ruled out l

SurAJ nAndrEKAr Mumbai, April 8: The Air Intelligence Unit of Customs, investigating the alleged attempted smuggling of foreign and Indian currency of Education Minister Babush Monserrate is likely to send the case for “adjudication”. The

adjudication process will be conducted by a senior officer authorised to adjudicate the matter in a judicial manner. The quasi judicial proceedings will hear both Monserrate as well as the investigating team to finally decide and pass a speaking order on whether Monser-

rate can be charged for “smuggling” Indian and foreign currency. The team which interrogated the Education Minister less than a week after he was detained with huge amounts of cash, is zeroing in on adjudication as the next step after Monserrate’s deposition

which lasted over four and a half hours. Less than a week after he was detained and questioned for sixteen hours for attempting to carry Indian and foreign currency illegally under the Arms Act and provisions of the FEMA Act and some of >Continued on pg 11

No pressure to go soft: Customs No proof against Rohit yet

The Additional Commissioner of Customs Air Intelligence Unit Mahendra Pal, spoke to Herald in Mumbai and denied allegations of pressure from the Union Finance Ministry to ease off on Babush. Herald: There are allegations that the Customs let off Education Minister Babush Monserrate bowing to pressure from the Centre, including a call from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s office Mahendra Pal: Well, the

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allegations will always come no matter what you do. I don’t want to comment on such baseless allegations. Herald: When Monserrate was detained the initial news was he was with cash and >Continued on pg 11

Anna wave puts Goa on Anti-Corruption ‘fast’ track

AzAdi from corruption: Activists under the banner ‘India Against Corruption’ with candles at Azad Maidan, Panjim on Friday.

Pact reached, Hazare to end fast PTI New Delhi, April 8: Wilting under a sustained anti-corruption campaign, Government tonight blinked in the war of attrition with Anna Hazare by agreeing to issue a formal order to set up a 10member joint committee for drafting a strong Lokpal Bill and the Gandhian will end his fast tomorrow. The announcement of an agreement came from both sides after four days of Hazare’s fast-unto-death that evoked a nationwide support cutting across the society. “Government has accepted all our demands and I will end my fast tomorrow at 10.30 am. This is a victory for the entire nation”, Hazare said. Union Minister Kapil Sibal, who led the Government team of negotiators, welcomed Hazare’s an-

nouncement and thanked him for it. The order will be issued tomorrow morning at around 10 am after which Hazare will end his fast. “This is a victory for democracy”, he said adding it was for the Government now to issue an appropriate order constituting the committee that will include representatives of civil society and Government. However, Hazare’s emissaries Kiran Bedi and Swami Agnivesh made it clear that the protest fast will not be ended till the Government issues the order. The denouement came after his emissaries met ministers for a round of talks, third in two days and after some hiccups. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will be the Chairman of the committee that will also include Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Telecom

Minister Sibal, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid as members. Besides Hazare, those representing the civil society in the joint committee will be eminent lawyers Shanti Bhushan, Prasant Bhushan, retired Supreme Court Judge Santosh Hege and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal. Shanti Bhushan will be the co-Chairman. In the agreement, the Government has committed itself to introducing the new Lokpal Bill in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament. Moily will be the convenor of the 10-member Joint Drafting Committee that will commence its work forthwith and evolve its own procedures to prepare the proposed legislation. >Continued on pg 11

bugle has been sounded, candles have been lit, Goa has promised to fast, march, light candles and speak in one voice of solidarity with Gandhian Anna Hazare and against corruption with the immediate aim of making the Jan Lokpal bill drafted by Hazare’s team a reality In Margao, youth, college students, activists, freedom fighters, lawyers came out in sizeable numbers with lit candles For the first time, students joined representatives of NGOs from Salcete at the

Candle lit vigil at Azad Maidan Concerned citizens groups will hold a candle lit vigil in support of Anna Hazare’s fight against corruption at Azad Maidan on Saturday from 7 pm. This decision was however taken before Anna Hazare decided to call off his fast. Margao Municipal garden to demand a stop to corruption and expressed their resolve to converge at the venue on Saturday as well as part of the ongoing country wide anti-corruption movement. The youngsters demanded the passage of the Lok Pal Bill to keep a check on corruption, saying the future is >Continued on pg 11


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