Vigilance asking scribe to identify ‘billionaire Minister’
Rather, Nasir, Jora found to have visited Dubai in 2010

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Jul 18: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is understood to have taken an extremely serious notice of a newspaper report and directed State Vigilance Commissioner to initiate necessary action against one of his senior Ministerial colleagues in case he was found involved in buying a house worth Rs 120 Crore in Dubai. Commissioner has been asked to initiate action against the newspaper and its correspondent if they declined to identify the Minister or the report was found to be baseless.

Leading Srinagar-based daily ‘Greater Kashmir’ had reported in today’s edition that a senior Minister of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s Cabinet had recently purchased an 8-bed room villa in Dubai’s posh Palms Island for a whopping Rs 12o Crore. However, the newspaper has identified neither the buyer of the Rs 1.2 billion property nor three other Ministers of Omar Abdullah’s Cabinet who, according to it, were also involved in corrupt practices and had allegedly amassed substantial fortunes.

Quoting unnamed sources, GK report elaborated that the “senior Cabinet Minister” has purchased the villa “recently after hectic negotiations with the villa owners” in Dubai.

Well placed sources in the state government told Early Times that after sessions of deliberations with his Ministerial colleagues and senior bureaucrats, Chief Minister today directed State Vigilance Organisation to check the veracity of the report and initiate “necessary legal action” against the Minister, if any found involved in purchasing of Rs 120 Cr house in Dubai or else against the newspaper and its correspondent in case the report was found to be incorrect. Sources said that Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Khursheed Ahmed Ganai, conveyed Chief Minister’s directions to Vigilance Commissioner, P L Gupta, asking him to check veracity of the report within a week.

According to these sources, Vigilance Commissioner has been directed to first summon the editor and correspondent of the newspaper and ask them to identify the Minister in question and, if necessary, also the source of the report. Mr Gupta has been directed to complete the preliminary inquiry into both, veracity of the report as well as the Minister’s deal, if it is proved to have happened, within a week. It has been, according to sources, made clear to the Commissioner to initiate “legal action” against the reporter and the editor in coordination with the state Law Department if they declined to identify the Minister or if the report was found to be incorrect.

Later this evening, an official press release issued by Department of Information said: “Taking cognizance of the report titled ‘Minister buys Rs. 120 cr villa in Dubai Palms--- Mantris Busy Amassing Wealth Through Illegal Gratifications’, carried in the 18th July, 2010 issue of Greater Kashmir, the Government has asked the vigilance Commissioner to conduct a preliminary enquiry to ascertain the veracity of these allegations and submit a report.

Sources revealed that an immediate bureaucratic exercise found three of the state Ministers to have visited Dubai in the current year. While senior National Conference (NC) leader and the high profile Minister of Finance, Abdul Rahim Rather, was found to have visited Dubai in the last week of June, Minister of Tourism, Nawang Rigzin Jora, and MoS Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, were found to have visited the business hub in the Gulf earlier this year.

During his visit on June 28th, Mr Rather was awarded Life Time Achievement – Achievers Excellence Award by the NRI Institute, Dubai for his outstanding contribution in the fields of economy, politics and social service.

The award was conferred on Mr Rather at the 5th Annual Global NRI Summit by sitting MP and former Minister Oscar Fernendes. Consul General of India in Dubai Sanjay Verma, Chairman, NRI Institute, Dr SK Pachauri and Secretary General, Jagmohan Singh were among the prominent people who attended the function.

The Event was managed by BIB MEDIA PVT LTD which claims to have 26 offices in 21 countries across the globe “ceaselessly working towards achieving socio-economic and political emancipation of NRI’s”.

“The Institute has been forging ties with the Indian Diaspora the world over vis-à-vis the Indian real estate industry for decades. The organization has been hosting global seminars and award ceremonies since 1985”, said a press release of J&K Government on June 29th. Lifetime Achievement Awards were also bestowed upon Dubai-based businessmen Dr Ram Buxani and Ram K Tulani”.

While Mr Rather was not reachable, his family members claimed to Early Times that neither the Minister nor any of his relatives had even a single room anywhere outside J&K.

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