I have made the following representation today:
seema.sapra@gmail.com
21 December 2013
To
(i)
Chief Justice of India ,
Supreme Court of India
(ii)
Chief Justice Ramana, Delhi High Court
(iii)
The Registrar General,
Delhi High
Court
(iv)
Chairman, Bar Council
of Delhi
(v)
All other members of
Bar Council of Delhi
(vi)
Delhi Police Commissioner
To
the Bar Council of Delhi, to the Chief Justice of India, to the Chief Justice
of the Delhi High Court, to the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court, to
the Police Commissioner for Delhi, and to All Others,
Ref: Whistle-blower
corruption and right to life Writ Petition pending in the Delhi High Court
since February 2012 – Writ Petition (Civil) 1280/ 2012 – in the matter of Seema
Sapra versus General Electric Company & Others
To the President, Secretary and to all other members of the
Bar Council of Delhi,
I am an advocate enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi
since 1995.
I have filed the captioned corruption petition producing
complaints and evidence of corruption, fraud, forgery, bribery and other
illegal practices committed by General Electric Company, its subsidiaries, its
employees and agents in connection with two Railway Ministry tenders for
Projects to set up diesel and electric locomotive factories at Marhowra and
Madhepura respectively. These two Projects with long term purchase and service
contracts are together worth over Rs 127,000 crores to the selected bidder. Not
only are these Projects against the national and public interest but as
described by me in the writ petition these tenders are tainted with corruption,
illegal lobbying, fraud, forgery, and bribery with high level Government of
India functionaries including Montek Singh Ahluwalia conspiring with General
Electric to create and award these lucrative tenders to General Electric.
I worked with General Electric briefly in 2010 and
discovered shortly afterwards that General Electric employees were seeking to
use me as a scapegoat and use the pretext of my legal services as a device to
cover up and carry out their illegal activities in connection with these
Projects and tenders. I learnt that my contract with General Electric was
tainted by fraud and that the contract was against public interest in that its
intent was to facilitate violation of both Indian and United States law and also General
Electric Company’s own internal compliance policies.
I was subjected to incessant and intense harassment during
my time at General Electric as part of this conspiracy to misuse and abuse my
legal services. I was even drugged during my time at General Electric with
intent to prevent me from finding out what exactly was going on and from
exposing corruption.
Under Indian and United States law as well as under General
Electric’s compliance policies (all of which I was mandated by law as well as
my employment contract to adhere to), upon learning of these corrupt and
illegal activities and because of the inexplicable harassment, I first made
internal complaints to General Electric compliance department and General
Counsel Brackett Denniston. Attempts were made to cover up my complaints and I
was drugged. My contract was abruptly and unlawfully terminated when I began to
raise questions about a cover-up.
After my contract was terminated and I made clear my
intention to approach legal authorities both in India
and in the United States ,
General Electric attempted another cover-up by carrying out an alleged internal
investigation. This was also used to cover-up my complaints and I continued to
be drugged and poisoned.
Finally fearing for my life and with intent to protect
myself, I sent my complaints to the authorities and also made my complaints
public by forwarding them to lawyers, embassies, human rights organizations and
to the domestic and international press. This also did not result in affording
me protection.
I mentioned the complaints and the threat to my life before
the Chief Justice of India in July 2011 and before the then Acting Chief
Justice of the Delhi High Court in February 2012.
Finally, I filed the captioned writ petition in February
2012 seeking interalia disqualification and blacklisting of General Electric, action
on my complaints in accordance with law, investigation and prosecution of the
corruption complaints, and seeking protection, safe housing and enforcement of
my right to life.
This writ petition and my interim applications have remained
unheard since February 2012.
I have made several complaints and representations to the
Bar Council of Delhi regarding this matter but I have not received any
response.
The PMO, the Delhi Police, the CBI, the CVC, the Railway
Ministry, General Electric Company, GE India Industrial Private Limited, GE
Global Sourcing India Private Limited, Bombardier, Siemens, EMD (a US company and
a subsidiary of Caterpillar), Alstom, and BHEL have all been issued notice in
the captioned matter.
The Bar Council of Delhi was also issued notice in the
captioned matter in April 2013 and was directed to file a report on welfare
provisions for lawyers. The Bar Council of Delhi has failed to comply with the
court’s directions. Not only has it not filed this report, it has even failed
to enter appearance through a properly authorised counsel and no vakalatnama
has been filed in the matter by the Bar Council of Delhi.
Yesterday I was distributing the attached pamphlet in the
Delhi High Court and I also handed it to several Bar Council of Delhi members
including to Mr Surya Prakash Khatri and to Mr Murari Tiwari. I later spoke to
them both and they told me they had read the note. I asked them what the Bar
Council of Delhi intended to do. To my shock instead of telling me what the Bar
Council of Delhi intended to do about my complaints, Mr Murari Tiwari let out
that the Bar Council of Delhi had received a complaint against me from General
Electric several months ago. I was told
by Mr Murari Tiwari that the Bar Council of Delhi had not yet taken cognizance
of the complaint and that they were sympathetic towards me and were trying to
discourage General Electric.
It is important for me to point out that I have acted in
compliance with Bar Council of India’s ethics rules for lawyers that provide
that an advocate will not permit her legal services to be used to facilitate
criminal acts. Under Bar Council of India ethics rules, the Indian Penal Code,
and the Indian Evidence Act, I was required to make these public complaints
against General Electric and to produce the evidence in my possession in
support of these complaints.
There can be no confidentiality in evidence in criminal
complaints of corruption, fraud, forgery, bribery and illegal lobbying and I
have merely produced this evidence (including what I witnessed and heard during
my time at General Electric and some internal General Electric documents
evidencing these criminal acts) on the court record in Writ Petition Civil
1280/ 2012.
Any attempt by General Electric to approach the Bar Council
of Delhi and to use Bar Council of Delhi proceedings to influence and
intimidate me will amount to contempt of court, interference with the
administration of justice, and to criminal acts intended to influence,
intimidate and silence a whistle-blower and a witness.
I attach a complaint sent by me to the Bar Council of Delhi
yesterday. Mr A S Chandhiok is participating in the conspiracy and attempts to
cover up my complaints, to sabotage the captioned writ petition, and to have me
eliminated. My complaints against A S Chandhiok have been sent to the Delhi
Police and are also on the court record.
Yesterday I was surprised that Mr Surya Prakash Khatri was
discussing this matter in my absence with Mr A S Chandhiok.
I urge that no Bar Council of Delhi member participate in
conspiring with General Electric, Mr A S Chandhiok or with anyone else behind
my back.
I also point out that Mr Rakesh Tiku has appeared in the
captioned matter for General Electric. Ms Rana Parween Siddiqui is also very
close to Mr A S Chandhiok and has helped him target me on at least two earlier
occasions.
This short note is being sent due to the urgency in this
matter. I will be communicating with more details in due course.
Seema Sapra
Advocate
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