Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai on Saturday said he had neither heard nor seen the tapes of conversations between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others, and denied leaking the tapes at the behest of Home Minister P. Chidambaram.
“I wish to clarify that neither I nor the Ministry of Home Affairs had, or have any access to any of the tapes concerning the interception of Ms. Radia's telephones,” Mr. Pillai said in a statement.
Reacting to the reports in the press, he said in an interview to The Wall Street Journal , on which the Supreme Court earlier this week made some observations, that he had been misunderstood and quoted out of context.
“I only stated that the interception of the telephone calls had been authorised by the Home Ministry on account of allegations concerning tax evasion or hawala, and that no tapes concerning tax evasion or hawala have appeared in the press.”
The Home Secretary said these were the subject matter of probe by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), and if substantiated, would be disclosed only later when charge sheets were filed by the agencies concerned.
“The allegations that I am leaking these tapes, at the behest of the Union Home Minister, are totally unfounded and false,” he said.
