It is high time the menace of corruption was nipped in the bud by making the bribe-giver susceptible to such prosecution, like the bribe-taker, the High Court of Karnataka has said.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna made these observations while refusing to quash the FIR registered against the owners and two employees of the Karnataka Aromas Company by the Karnataka Lokayukta police in relation to a tender scam allegedly involving the former MLA Madal Virupakshappa, who was then chairman of Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Ltd. (KSDL).
The petitions were filed by Kailash S. Raj, Vinay S. Raj, and Chetan Marlecha, who are owners of Karnataka Aromas Company, and its two employees, Albert Nicolas and Gangadhar. The petitioners were booked for offering a bribe to Mr. Virupakshappa’s son M.V. Prashanth Kumar, finance adviser and chief controller of accounts in the BWSSB, in relation to a KSDL tender.
It was contended on their behalf that the new provision of the Prevention of Corruption Act clearly depicts that if the bribe-giver is compelled to give a bribe in a circumstance beyond his control, he should report it to the investigation agency within one week. They claimed that the FIR was registered against them before one week could lapse.
“Prima facie, if the story narrated by the senior counsel, representing the accused-petitioners, is accepted, it would be accepting a screenplay of a potboiler without letting investigation to be conducted into such ingredients, as the story, within a story twined is interesting to listen, it is a katha sangama but, if on the story the petitioners are left off the hook, the very object behind the amendment and substituting Sections 8, 9 and 10 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, will be rendered redundant,” the court observed.
The court also pointed out that the 2018 amendment was for “making the giver and the taker stand on the same pedestal of prosecution”. The Lokayukta police trapped Mr. Prashanth Kumar at his private office while accepting ₹40 lakh as bribe on March 2, 2023, allegedly on behalf of his father.
