Lalu Prasad jailed: these politicians forgot people's faith in them, says court

Ranchi, Jharkhand: A court that jailed Bihar politician Lalu Prasad for five years today, said he and other politicians convicted in the multi-crore fodder scam had forgotten their constitutional oaths and the faith reposed to them by the people.

66-year-old Lalu was Chief Minister of undivided Bihar when it emerged that some 950 crores had been embezzled by politicians and bureaucrats from state government coffers in the name of fodder and medicines for non-existent cattle.

Here are the key observations of judge Pravas Kumar Singh:

• These politicians had forgotten their oath regarding the values to the Constitution of India and the faith reposed in them by the General Public.
• Being Chief Minister Cum Finance Minister of the state, Lalu had full knowledge of money being siphoned off by officials from various treasuries of Bihar on the pretext of the purchase of feed/fodder, medicines and instruments
• Lalu Prasad gave protection, patronage and incentive to the scamsters and in lieu of that he received hefty pay-offs and hospitality time to time from them."
• Politicians like Lalu Prasad, his predecessor Jagannath Mishra and others were named for "willful omissions and commissions have contributed to this plunder." 43 others were convicted along with them on Monday.
• The court said had Lalu Prasad been sincere at any stage from 1990 to 1994, through various stages of the scam and its revelation in the form of fake payments and receipts, the scam would have been nipped in the bud.
• The judge dismissed Lalu's argument that he had himself filed complaints in the case and provided all documents.
• "Initiating certain enquiries, making some queries here and there, and by getting the case registered by the local police when it became almost impossible to justify and suppress the fraud, proves the mala-fide intention of the Chief Minister and nothing else," said the judge.
• The court said the politicians had close nexus with the "scamsters" and participated by giving patronage to officials involved in 'smooth functioning of the scam".