TUNCAY ALANUS Vs. CENTRAL BUREAUOF INVESTINGATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE challenge in this petition under Section 482 of the Code of criminal Procedure, 1973 (Crpc) is to an order dated 19th January 2004 passed by the learned Special Judge, CBI, Delhi in CBI Case No. 3 (A) of acu (l)/new Delhi titled "cbi v. C. K. Ramakrishnan and Others".

(2.) THE petitioner who is a Turkish national is facing trial for the offences under Sections 120-B read with 409 IPC and alternatively Sections 120-B read with 420 IPC. By the impugned order the learned Special Judge rejected the petitioner's plea for replacing the interpreter provided to him in the aforementioned case with a more competent one and for a direction to restart the trial thereafter in compliance with Sections 228, 278, 279 and 282 Crpc.

(3.) THE facts leading to the filing of the present petition are that the central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a charge sheet on 26th December 1997 alleging that 9 accused persons, including the Petitioner, had entered into a criminal conspiracy to defraud National Fertilizers Limited (NFL)and misappropriate its funds to the tune of US$ 3, 80, 00, 000 (equivalent to Rs. 133 crores at the then rate of exchange ). According to the CBI, NFL was the canalizing agency for import of urea on behalf of the Department of fertilizers, Government of India, New Delhi. There was well-defined procedure laid down by the Board of NFL for importing urea by floating global tenders and for making payment to the suppliers by way of letters of credit. According to the prosecution, accused C. K. Ramakrishnan, the then managing Director, NFL and D. S. Kanwar, the then Executive Director (Marketing) NFL entered into a contract in November 1995 on behalf of the nfl with Karsans Ltd. based in Turkey, for the supply of 2 lakh metric tons of urea at US$ 190 per metric ton. It was alleged that this contract was entered into without following the norms laid down by the Board of NFL. Further contrary to the guidelines, the contract stipulated 100% cash prepayment against a first class Lloyds Insurance Policy. One per cent of the total contract payment was to be paid in advance to the seller to enable him to procure the Lloyds Insurance Policy. An amount of US$ 3, 80, 000 was remitted to the account of Karsans Ltd. , on 12th November 1995. The remittance was made by the State Bank of India, N. D. S. E. Part-I Branch in contravention of the provisions of Exchange Control Manual, 1993. It is stated that the insurance cover note dated 6th November 1995 submitted by Karsans Ltd. was a spurious document and did not protect the interests of the buyer. Nevertheless, the accused prevailed on the officers of the State bank of India to make the remittance of the total amount. The role of the karsans Ltd. was that they procured the insurance cover note dated 6th november 1995 which ultimately facilitated in the making of the remittance and thereby causing loss to NFL. The petitioner was the Chairman and cihan Karanci was the Vice President of Karsans Ltd.