A day after his report was leaked, an emotional Justice N. Santosh Hegde refused to accept the BJP’s charge that the leak had affected the sanctity of his reports. Insisting that the findings of his report was still valid, he said the total loss to the state exchequer in the form of royalties was `1,827 crores in a mere 14 months and that the full report would be “substantive and voluminous.”
Q: Political parties are saying that as the report has been leaked it has lost its sanctity. Do you agree?
A: How can it spoil the sanctity of the report as a whole? Those who say this should read the law. The leak of the report will not have any impact as it does not question the validity of the report. The chief minister, his sons’ and son-in-law’s involvement and the favours that they received is just a part of the report. Moreover, the leaked report has not gone into detail, they did not have access to the supporting documents that we have attached to the report. The leak focuses on one of the major portions of the report but the remaining chapters are still intact. The mining scam in the state is huge and during the time period of 14 months the loss has been estimated at more than `1,800 crores. This period is between March 2009 and May 2010. It is a loss to the state exchequer. It is a loss to the state.
Q: The part in the report about the chief minister has been leaked. Can you elaborate how the Chief Minister benefited and also who is responsible for the illegal mining in the state?
A: The report has given substantive evidence against chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa. On their involvement, in order to benefit a mining company an amount of `10 crores was paid to the trust, Prerana Trust in Shimoga. The trust is run by the CM’s sons.
In another case, the same mining company has purchased a site from the CM’s son-in-law for`20 crores, whereas the guidance value of the property is not more than `1 crore.
The scam as a whole is a huge one.
The chief minister is responsible for what is happening in Bellary because of the fact that the minister incharge — the chief minister — is owner of a mining company and a mafia-like situation has been created with every official being involved. They have created a new system altogether by which they could literally bleed other mining companies.
Q: The leaked report also apparently talks about former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s role. Has he been also indicted in the report?
A: The former chief minister had granted a licence to a firm, which had produced an approval from the union ministry of environment and forest on the ministry’s letterhead to lift the iron ore.