Indian tainted anti-corruption chief removed

NEW DELHI, Mar 3 (AFP): India's graft-tainted government suffered a fresh setback Thursday when its candidate to be the country's chief corruption fighter was rejected by the Supreme Court because of a pending criminal case. The decision to cancel the appointment of Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas is likely to cause acute embarrassment for embattled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has publicly backed him. Thomas was appointed in September despite having been charged in 2000 over his role in allegedly fraudulent imports of palm oil from Malaysia while he worked as a civil servant in the Kerala state government in the 1990s. He was appointed by a three-member committee comprising Prime Minister Singh, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and opposition leader Sushma Swaraj. "The recommendation made by the high-powered (appointment) committee does not exist in the eye of the law," Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia told the court during criticism of the naming process. Speaking to reporters after the Supreme Court decision, Swaraj, who had opposed Singh and Chidambaram in the naming of Thomas, said the "dignity of the office of the CVC has been restored". Opposition lawmaker Rajiv Pratap Rudy, also from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said the judgement was "the biggest blow to Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi" who is the head of the ruling Congress party. "Today's judgement is a historic decision and shows how the ruling party has been failing to tackle corruption," Rudy said. The Central Vigilance Commission is India's leading anti-corruption watchdog, and is one body addressing allegations of graft among organisers of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi last October. "I respect the Supreme Court verdict," Singh told reporters before entering parliament where he was expected to make a statement on the issue. As well as giving ammunition to his political opponents, Thursday's setback also undermines Singh's recent public pledges to crack down on corruption in Indian politics and bring wrong-doers to justice. The government and the Congress party have been reeling from a series of corruption scandals over the last six months, which have caused concern among voters and have troubled foreign investors. The most damaging has been the so-called "2G scam" in which telecom licences were sold in 2008 at a fraction of their value. The telecom minister at the time, A. Raja, was arrested last month and remains in police custody. Thomas, who resigned as soon as the Supreme Court made its decision on Thursday, was a senior figure in the telecom ministry at the time of the licence sales. He has not been prosecuted over the palm oil imports allegations and has always maintained his innocence, blaming the accusations on political rivalry in Kerala.