Urea scam accused man's wife questions 12 years of trial delay

New Delhi, Nov 3 : The Supreme Court Tuesday demanded the union government's explanation as to why a Brazilian national has been left facing trial in Delhi for the last 12 years for his alleged role in the Rs.13.3 million urea scam.

A bench of Justice Tarun Chatterjee issued the notice to the external affairs ministry and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a habeas corpus lawsuit, filed by the urea scam accused Brazilian A.E. Pinto's Pourtagese wife Engenia Teles Pinto.

For his alleged role in the 1995 urea scam, the British-resident, Brazilian national Pinto was arrested in London in 1997 and was later extradited to India to face the trial here in the designated CBI court.

He was granted bail after staying in Delhi's high security Tihar Jail for five years, two months and nine days, said the lawsuit filed by Pinto's wife, Engenia Teles Pinto. She is here in India on a 180-day tourist visa to secure freedom for her husband.

In her lawsuit, Engenia Pinto contended that despite grant of bail, her husband has been denied permission to visit their home in London and has been restrained in New Delhi to face the trial, which is on for the last 12 years.

Her counsel Wills Methew contended before the bench that a foreign national, extradited to India from abroad, can be accorded a jail term no longer than seven years.

Yet her husband is in virtual jail term in Delhi for the last 12 years, facing the trial and suffering with various old-age diseases.

The Rs.13.3 million urea scam - involving former (late) prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao's relative B. Sanjeeva Rao, former union minister Ramlakhan Singh Yadav's son Prakash Chandra and seven others - dates back to November 1995 when National Fertiliser Limited had paid a contract amount of $37.62 million in advance to a Turkish firm for the purchase of urea.

But the accused persons involved in the scam had shared the amount amongst themselves without honouring the contract.

The CBI had chargesheeted nine people, including Pinto, for their alleged role in the scam. Among the others chargesheeted were Turkish firm Karsan Ltd's executives Tuncay Alankus and Cihan Karanci, former National Fertilisers Limited managing director C.K. Ramakrishnan, its former executive director Dilbagh Singh, Karsan's Indian agent M. Sambasiva Rao, and D. Mallesam Goud.

--IANS