Home Secretary G K Pillai on Saturday clarified that neither he nor the Ministry of Home Affairs has or had access to any of the Niira Radia tapes. Reacting to news reports that alleged that he may have leaked portions of the Radia tapes,the Home Secretary in an official clarification issued by the MHA said,Since I have neither heard nor seen the tapes,the allegations that I am leaking these tapes,at the behest of the Union Home Minister,is totally unfounded and false. Pillai has also clarified that his interview to the Wall Street Journal and the tip of the iceberg comment has been misunderstood and quoted out of context. I had only stated that the interception of the telephone calls have been authorised by the Home Ministry on account of allegations concerning tax evasion/hawala,and that no tapes concerning tax evasion/hawala had appeared in the press. These were the subject matter of investigation by the CBDT and if these are substantiated,would be only disclosed later when the charge-sheets are filed by the concerned agencies, Pillais clarification said. He also pointed out that from the affidavits given by the Ministry of Finance (CBDT) that some portion of the tapes had been given to the CBI for investigation. Incidentally,Pillais interview to the Wall Street Journal generated lot of interest with the Supreme Court asking last week if there was any substance in the reported statement,that what has come into public domain from the Radia tapes in connection with 2G spectrum was the tip of the iceberg.
