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Puducherry Lt Governor Iqbal Singh was today grilled for nearly five hours by a team of the Enforcement Directorate over his recommendation for issuing a passport expeditiously to Hasan Ali Khan, facing money laundering and tax-evasion charges.
The four-member team from Mumbai began questioning Singh at Raj Nivas around 1.20 pm, according to official sources, who also said the exercise was likely to continue tomorrow. Asked if the questioning was videographed, Raj Nivas sources said, "It is top secret and none was allowed inside."
The Mumbai team arrived here five days after ED officials from Chennai had set the process in motion to question Singh for his passport recommendation as a Congress Rajya Sabha member in 1997.
The decks were cleared for Singh's questioning after the Prime Minister's Office gave the go-ahead to the Directorate to record his statement on the issue. Singh, whose name had cropped up during questioning of Bihar-based Congress leader Amlendu Pandey, had admitted to having recommended expeditious issue of the passport, but claimed he never knew Khan. In a letter to Home Minister P Chidambaram last week, Singh had claimed he asked for the passport to be granted on humanitarian grounds because he had been told that Khan needed to travel abroad urgently to visit his ailing brother.
Meanwhile, Puducherry Chief Minister V Vaithilingam today said “there is no necessity” for Lt Governor Iqbal Singh to step down from his post for his alleged links with suspected money launderer Hasan Ali Khan.
“The ED would do the necessary statutory follow up," the CM said, adding, in these circumstances why should Singh resign as he was only facing allegations. He denied allegations that the administration had favoured a trust, reportedly linked to Singh, for starting a medical college in the union territory.
The four-member team from Mumbai began questioning Singh at Raj Nivas around 1.20 pm, according to official sources, who also said the exercise was likely to continue tomorrow. Asked if the questioning was videographed, Raj Nivas sources said, "It is top secret and none was allowed inside."
The Mumbai team arrived here five days after ED officials from Chennai had set the process in motion to question Singh for his passport recommendation as a Congress Rajya Sabha member in 1997.
The decks were cleared for Singh's questioning after the Prime Minister's Office gave the go-ahead to the Directorate to record his statement on the issue. Singh, whose name had cropped up during questioning of Bihar-based Congress leader Amlendu Pandey, had admitted to having recommended expeditious issue of the passport, but claimed he never knew Khan. In a letter to Home Minister P Chidambaram last week, Singh had claimed he asked for the passport to be granted on humanitarian grounds because he had been told that Khan needed to travel abroad urgently to visit his ailing brother.
Meanwhile, Puducherry Chief Minister V Vaithilingam today said “there is no necessity” for Lt Governor Iqbal Singh to step down from his post for his alleged links with suspected money launderer Hasan Ali Khan.
“The ED would do the necessary statutory follow up," the CM said, adding, in these circumstances why should Singh resign as he was only facing allegations. He denied allegations that the administration had favoured a trust, reportedly linked to Singh, for starting a medical college in the union territory.
