'Can approving recommendations be crime?' Manmohan Singh on Chidambaram's detention

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh on Monday expressed concern over the continued detention in custody of his party colleague P Chidambaram in a corruption case and hoped that the courts will render justice.

Chidambaram, a former Union finance minister, was arrested by the CBI for alleged corruption in the grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance in the INX Media case. He was later remanded in judicial custody and sent to Tihar jail.

Singh, who along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi earlier in the day met Chidambaram in Tihar Jail, said no decision in the country was taken by a single person and wondered how a minister simply approving recommendations can be accused of committing a crime.

He feared that if the minister is liable for approving a recommendation, the whole system of government will collapse.

"We are concerned with continued detention in custody of our colleague P Chidambaram," Singh said in a statement after meeting Chidambaram.

He said in the country's system of government, no decision can be taken by any single person and all decisions are collective decisions recorded in files.

He said a dozen officers, including six secretaries to the government, examined and recommended the proposal and Chidambaram as minister approved the unanimous recommendation.

"If the officers are not at fault, it is beyond our comprehension how the minister who simply approved the recommendation can be accused of committing an offence. If the minister is liable for approving a recommendation, the whole system of government will collapse," he said.

"We are confident, and we sincerely hope, that the courts will render justice in this case," the former prime minister said in the statement.