New Delhi, May 8
Defence Minister George Fernandes today accused tehelka.com, which had conducted “Operation Westend” to expose corruption in defence deals, of helping Pakistan and affecting the morale of the armed forces.

“I have my own conclusion about Tehelka expose. I am looking at the end result which helped Pakistan and the losers were my country and the defence forces and all that is related to their morale,” Mr Fernandes said while deposing before the Venkataswami Commission, which is inquiring into the Tehelka expose.

Mr Fernandes asserted that the right course for the portal would have been to first bring the expose to his knowledge as the Defence Minister or to the Prime Minister.

“If they found both Defence Minister and Prime Minister corrupt, they (Tehelka) should have approached the President who is the supreme commander of the armed forces. This was not done. So the bonafides and malafides are obvious,” he said.

Though Mr Fernandes did not figure in the Tehelka tapes, the Venkataswami Commission called the minister as a witness as references were made to him by the then Samata Party President Ms Jaya Jaitly and Treasurer R K Jain.

Mr Fernandes, who had resigned as the Defence Minister after the expose was made public last year and was re-inducted within months in the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, accused the portal of editing out portions of the conversations favourable to him on the pretext that those were irrelevant.

Mr Fernandes has been issued notice under Section 8B(b) of the Commission of Inquiry Act as his reputation was likely to be affected by the proceedings. His position vis-a-vis other witnesses was a bit different as the others had been issued notices under section 8B(a) of the same Act and their conduct is under investigation.