rediff.com: Money was paid at Fernandes' house: Tehelka reporter


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Monday
July 29, 2002
2119 IST

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Money was paid at Fernandes' house: Tehelka reporter

Mathew Samuel, one of the undercover reporters of Tehelka.com, on Monday said he had paid Rs 200,000 to Samata Party's Rajasthan unit chief Gopal Pachirwal during a meeting with former party president Jaya Jaitly at Defence Minister George Fernandes' official residence.

On Monday, Samuel appeared before the Venkataswami Commission for the first time and was examined by the portal's counsel Kavin Gulati

Samuel denied being familiar with Pachirwal at the time of the incident, though he now recognises him.

Samuel also claimed that he had gone to South Block to meet defence ministry official L M Mehta from whom the portal was to obtain a 'Letter of Evaluation' for their equipment in return for Rs 50,000.

Denying any expertise in technical work, he said he was not involved in the post-production aspects of the sting operation on alleged corruption in defence deals.

PTI

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