Pak SC issues contempt notice to PM Gilani

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's top court on Monday found Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in contempt for not complying with orders related to re-opening corruption cases and summoned him to appear in person this week.

The move escalates the pressure on Pakistan's weakened civilian government, which faces separate court procedures that could unseat its leadership and force early elections at a time of soaring tensions with the powerful army.

"The Supreme Court has issued a contempt of court notice to the prime minister for not complying with its orders," Judge Nasir-ul-Mulk told the court which met to debate how to proceed on graft charges against the president.

"He has been directed to appear personally on January 19," the judge added.

The Supreme Court wants the government to write to Swiss authorities demanding that they re-open old corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, which the government has so far refused to do so.

Zardari and the government led by his Pakistan People's Party (PPP) say he has immunity from prosecution as long as he remains in office.

The president is also under pressure from an investigation into who was behind efforts to solicit American help to prevent a coup apparently feared in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death and to clip the power of the army.

Zardari's close aide, Husain Haqqani, was forced to resign as ambassador to Washington over a secret memo written last May and the Supreme Court ordered an inquiry on December 30 following a demand from the country's chief spymaster.

NRHM scam: CBI issues notices to 11 officers, politicians

LUCKNOW: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday morning issued notices to 11 officers, contractors and politicians summoning them to Delhi headquarters of the agency for questioning in connection with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam. In Lucknow, a dozen member team of the CBI has started visitng the primary health centers and community centers to verify if the money sanctioned to the people under different schemes of the NRHM were actually received by them and if yes then how have they spent it. The verification Those issued notices by the CBI include the Narendra Jain and his son Vivek Jain of Moradabad along with their business contact Saurabh Jain. Saurabh is believed to be the link between the former minister for family welfare Babu Singh Kushwaha and the contractors. The link is being seen as a critical one with regards to establishing the connivance of Kushwaha in the scam. The focus of the CBI investigations at these CHCs and PHCs is the implementation of Janani Suraksha Yojna (JSY) aimed at promoting institutionalised delivery of preagnent women in order to improve the infant mortality rate. In this scheme every expecting woman is entitled to a financial help of Rs 1400 in cash the child is delivered at the CHC / PHC. The CBI probe has unearthed instances where money was given to women as old as 60 years in age for delivery. In some places, initial verification has revealed that the beneficiary mentioned in the records was actually a man. In some other instances, some woman who had died 10 years ago, were issued financial help. In order to gather concrete evidence in these anomalies the CBI is conducting the verification exercise at the ground level and infront of the signing authority.

NRHM scam: CBI arrests P.K. Jain in NRHM fund Scam

The CBI on Thursday arrested a bureaucrat from Uttar Pradesh, marking the first major arrest in the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam in that state. The General Manager of Construction & Design Services (C & DS) in UP Jal Nigam, P K Jain, was arrested by the CBI in connection with one of the FIRs in which former UP Family Welfare Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha is also an accused. The arrest came a day after the agency carried out inter-state searches at about 60 locations, including the residence of Kushwaha. Jain was called to the CBI headquarters in Delhi and later put under arrest and taken to Ghaziabad court which remanded him in CBI custody till January 13. Besides Jain, those who were called for questioning were S P Ram, former DG of family welfare, Abhay Kumar Vajpayee, Managing Director of Uttar Pradesh Small Industries Corporation Ltd, Saurabh Jain, owner of Guru Kripa Medicals. Saurabh, considered close to Kushwaha, is also likely to be arrested. Another former DG of family welfare, R R Bharti, was also summoned by the CBI in Lucknow. The CBI had registered a case against P K Jain on January 2 for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 5.46 crore in the upgrading work of 134 district hospitals. The CBI alleged that Rs 13.4 crore was given to Construction and Design Services, a unit of UP Jal Nigam, for the upgrade work of 134 districts hospitals across the state. It alleged that the work was sub-let to Ghaziabad-based Surgicoin Medi Equipt Pvt Ltd on the basis of bogus and forged documents. “The materials installed in the hospitals were found to be of inferior and sub-standard quality thereby causing an approximate loss of Rs 5.46 crore to the exchequer,” the CBI alleged. The agency also claimed to have recovered 3 kg of gold and cash of Rs 1.11 crore besides some important documents during search operations at Jain’s residence on Wednesday. ‘Raid on Kushwaha home a conspiracy’ BJP state president Surya Pratap Shahi said on Thursday the CBI raids at the residence of former family welfare minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, who joined the BJP on Tuesday, were a joint conspiracy of Congress, BSP and SP to suppress the voices of an OBC leader. In another statement, party national secretary Kirit Somaiya accused the Congress of misusing the documents he had given to CBI in connection with Mayawati government’s various scams and bogus companies owned by Mayawati’ friends and family.