Friday, May 13 2005 20:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Disputing the Government's contentions on the Phukan Commission report, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (May 13, 2005) charged it with rejecting the findings on "flimsy grounds" and said that it proved its "obnoxious and vindictive" attitude towards the Opposition.

Former Finance Minister and party spokesman Yashwant Sinha said that contrary to the Government's claim, in an accompanying note "there was no prima facie establishment of charges" against then Defence Minister George Fernandes.

He said that the Commission was set up, as the widespread media coverage of the Tehelka expose and the allegations levelled therein "tend to cast adverse reflection on the manner of procurements".

Sinha said that while the Commission in its report, tabled in Parliament today, has recommended that "in house inquiry" be conducted in 13 of the 15 deals examined by it, it has found in each of the Defence deals that either Fernandes was not at fault, or they were finalised before reaching him, or they were finalised before he took charge.

The BJP leader claimed that an advance amount of $142.268 million was paid "without any contract and before the cabinet approved it for acquisition" on April 4, 1996 when there was no BJP Government in power.

Asserting that the Commission had submitted its full report of 700 pages on February 4, 2004, Sinha said, "it has been rejected on baseless and very flimsy grounds. There is no force in the arguments given."

He also condemned the "ugly attempt by the Congress and its coalition partners to cast doubt on Justice Phukan's credibility".