Ex-Minister Nagendra being pressurised by ED to spell out names in Valmiki scam: CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru, Jul 19: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said former minister B Nagendra, who is in ED’s custody in connection with the ST Corporation scam, is being pressurised to name some people.
Nagendra resigned as Tribal Welfare Minister after the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation, Accounts Superintendent Chandrasekharan P died by suicide on May 26.
The officer said in his suicide note that there was an embezzlement of Rs 187 crore, including the illegal transfer of Rs 88 crore money.
Based on a complaint by the Union Bank of India from where the money was illegally transferred to 217 bank accounts in Hyderabad, the CBI launched an investigation and the Enforcement Directorate also joined.
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“We have not received any report from the CBI. They have arrested Nagendra. We have the information that he (Nagendra) is being pressured to name so-and-so persons,” Siddaramaiah said in a press conference.
He said the CBI is investigating it on its own.
“The CBI is investigating 'suo motu'. I am underlining this. The ED raided Valmiki Corporation chairperson Basanagouda Daddal and Nagendra’s houses. The agency summoned them for inquiry and arrested Nagendra,” he pointed out.
The CM further said the suicide note only names three people – Valmiki Corporation Managing Director J G Padmanabha, Accountant Parashuram Durgannanavar and Chief Manager of Union Bank of India’s MG Road branch in Bengaluru, Suchismita Rahul.
Chandrasekharan’s wife Kavitha too named the trio in her complaint.
On June 3, Deputy General Manager of the bank, Mahesh J lodged a complaint with the CBI.
“Since Chandrasekharan had mentioned in his suicide note that Nagendra gave oral instruction and also a video conversation surfaced wherein the minister’s name was mentioned, he was asked to resign,” Siddaramaiah explained.
Divulging details of the money trail, the Chief Minister said Rs 187.33 crore was transferred to UBI’s MG Road Branch from different accounts, including Rs 43 crore in the treasury.
“Out of Rs 187.33 crore, Rs 88.63 crore was transferred to 18 accounts in Hyderabad. Should they sit idly when the money is transferred there? Shouldn’t they have any responsibility and raise objections?” he wondered.
Siddaramaiah said the money was then credited to 199 additional accounts. All put together, Valmiki Corporation’s money went to 217 accounts.
He assured that the entire money would be recovered.
"Rs 85.25 is at different stages of recovery. We still have to get back close to Rs 4 crore. According to me, the entire money will be recovered. Whatever money was looted and distributed, is on the way to recovery,” he claimed.
Asked whether the Finance department did not notice the illegal transfer of money, Siddaramaiah said it goes in the normal course.
Noting that the board of the corporation prepares the action plan and not the finance department, the CM said even in the board meeting the transfer of money was not approved because on March 30, 2024, the board passed ‘a fake resolution’.
“It was all fake because the Model Code of Conduct for Lok Sabha election was in place. The Election Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha election came into force on March 16,” he pointed out.
Siddaramaiah said the bank officers have also wondered how the officers conducted the board meeting. He added that this was an ‘organised crime’.
To a query about BJP’s demand for his resignation over the irregularities, Siddaramaiah counter-questioned, “Banks come under whose jurisdiction? Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Shouldn’t she resign?”
To another question whether this is a ‘joint scam by Centre and the state’, he dismissed it.
The Chief Minister, however, noted that he has never come across a case like this in his life.
Responding to BJP’s demand for a CBI probe, Siddaramaiah said once upon a time the saffron party leaders used to call it ‘Chor Bachao Institution’ (CBI).
“You never gave the case to the CBI when you were in power. I trust my police. The CBI has already entered the picture. ED is doing its job. SIT is also investigating it,” he pointed out.
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Netanyahu recommends his Cabinet approve Hezbollah cease-fire proposal
Beirut, Nov 26: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would recommend his cabinet adopt a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah, as Israeli warplanes struck across Lebanon, killing at least 23 people.
The Israeli military also issued a flurry of evacuation warnings — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah down to the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. For the first time in the conflict, Israeli ground troops reached parts of Lebanon's Litani River, a focal point of the emerging deal.
In a televised statement, Netanyahu said he would present the ceasefire to Cabinet ministers later on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting.
Netanyahu said the vote was expected later Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal does not affect Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, which shows no signs of ending.
The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously have not been targeted. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks before a ceasefire, sent residents fleeing. Traffic was gridlocked, and some cars had mattresses tied to them. Dozens of people, some wearing their pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, kept up its rocket fire, triggering air raid sirens across northern Israel.
Lebanese officials have said Hezbollah also supports the deal. If approved by all sides, the deal would be a major step toward ending the Israel-Hezbollah war that has inflamed tensions across the region and raised fears of an even wider conflict between Israel and Hezbollah's patron, Iran.
The deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor all sides' compliance.
But implementation remains a major question mark. Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Lebanese officials have rejected writing that into the proposal. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted on Tuesday that the military would strike Hezbollah if the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, doesn't provide “effective enforcement” of the deal.
“If you don't act, we will act, and with great force,” Katz said, speaking with UN special envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Tuesday that Israel's security concerns had been addressed in the deal also brokered by France.
“There is not an excuse for not implementing a ceasefire. Otherwise, Lebanon will fall apart,” Borrell told reporters in Italy on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting. He said France would participate on the ceasefire implementation committee at Lebanon's request.
Bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs continues
Even as Israeli, US, Lebanese and international officials have expressed growing optimism over a ceasefire, Israel has continued its campaign in Lebanon, which it says aims to cripple Hezbollah's military capabilities.
An Israeli strike on Tuesday levelled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city's downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Three people were killed in a separate strike in Beirut and three in a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Lebanese state media said another 10 people were killed in the eastern Baalbek province. Israel says it targets Hezbollah fighters and their infrastructure.
Earlier, Israeli jets struck at least six buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs. One strike slammed near the country's only airport, sending plumes of smoke into the sky. The airport has continued to function despite its location on the Mediterranean coast next to the densely populated suburbs where many of Hezbollah's operations are based.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in the suburbs, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where UNIFIL is headquartered.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Associated Press that peacekeepers will not evacuate.
Other strikes hit in the southern city of Tyre, where the Israeli military said it killed a local Hezbollah commander.
The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometres from the Israeli border.
Previous ceasefire hopes were dashed
Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the strongest Iranian-backed force in the region, would likely significantly calm regional tensions that have led to fears of a direct, all-out war between Israel and Iran. It's not clear how the ceasefire will affect the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah had long insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition.
Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since.
Israel escalated its campaign of bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members.
Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country's north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon.
After previous hopes for a ceasefire were dashed, U.S. officials cautioned that negotiations were not yet complete and noted there could be last-minute hitches that delay or destroy an agreement.
“Nothing is done until everything is done,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
While the ceasefire proposal is expected to be approved if Netanyahu brings it to a vote in his security Cabinet, one hard-line member, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he would oppose it. He said on X that a deal with Lebanon would be a “big mistake” and a “missed historic opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.”
