Washington: US lawmakers accused the Obama administration on Wednesday of trampling on free speech rights and evading questions about the Justice Department's secret seizure of Associated Press telephone records.
US Attorney General Eric Holder, testifying before a House of Representatives panel, provided limited responses on the issue, noting he had been recused from the probe into a government leak that led to the records seizure.
Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee became frustrated that Holder could not answer why the subpoena to obtain the records was so broad and why the Justice Department did not first try to negotiate with AP to obtain information.
"We don't know where the buck stops," said US Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican....
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03:48 AM, May 16, 2013
New Delhi: The BJP upped the ante against Law Minister Ashwani Kumar on Wednesday after the Supreme Court said that the heart of CBI's coal report was changed by the government officials. The apex court, while examining the affidavit submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with coal scam, on Wednesday took a very strong stand and called the investigating agency a "caged parrot speaking in its...
04:37 PM, May 08, 2013
New Delhi: Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati, one Joint Secretary rank official each from the Prime Minister's Office and the Coal Ministry not only saw the draft status report on the coal scam case, but also ordered some changes in it, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court in a fresh affidavit submitted on Monday. The nine-page affidavit submitted by CBI Director Ranjit...
11:42 AM, May 06, 2013
New Delhi: Attorney General Ghoolam E Vahanvati issued a clarification on Wednesday and said he never interfered with the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) status report on coal block allocation scam. He also denied he has a copy of the report. Vahanvati has been accused by former ASG Harin Raval of having tampered with the CBI coal status report. Raval had written in his letter to Vahanvati, "Certain suggestions were...
07:28 PM, May 01, 2013
Additional Solicitor General and CBI counsel in the coal scam case Harin Raval wrote a letter to Attorney General Ghoolam E Vahanvati accusing him of interfering in the CBI's case. Raval in his letter has alleged that he has been made a scapegoat in the case. Following is the full text of the letter written by Raval to Vahanvati: Learned Attorney General Sir, Sir, as a leader of the Bar...
08:54 AM, Apr 30, 2013
Washington: US President Barack Obama has apologised to California Attorney General Kamala Harris for causing a stir when he called her "the best-looking attorney general" at a Democratic fundraiser they attended together this week. A spokesman for Harris said she had a great conversation with Obama and strongly supports him but would not say whether she had accepted the President's apology. Obama apologised to Harris by telephone on Thursday night...
09:18 AM, Apr 06, 2013
Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara has proven adept with the media, landing on the cover of Time magazine and being named the latest "Sheriff of Wall Street" by the financial press. The chief federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York was back in the limelight on Tuesday, announcing charges against state Senator Malcolm Smith, a Democrat, and five other politicians in a plot to buy his way onto...
10:59 PM, Apr 03, 2013
Former Telecom Minister A Raja has told a Joint Parliamentary Committee that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was fully aware of telecom policy decisions and has accused Attorney General GE Vahanvati of telling a "series of untruths" against him. Responding to a questionnaire sent by the committee, Raja said both Prime Minister and the then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee were kept informed on the licensing policy. ...
02:18 PM, Mar 24, 2013
Attorney General GE Vahanvati has reiterated his earlier statements that a press release allegedly approved by him in connection with 2G spectrum allocation. ...
01:49 PM, Feb 27, 2013
Islamabad: In what may spell trouble for Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that he was willing to revoke the Attorney General's letter that had asked for the closure of graft cases against the President. Ashraf was charged with contempt of court after repeatedly failing to implement the SC's order to reopen graft cases against Zardari. The issue relates to...
10:43 AM, Sep 18, 2012
New Delhi: Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati has reportedly written to the Law Ministry on reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in job promotions, pointing out that the proposal is not legally possible. Sources say that Vahanvati has told the Law Ministry that reservation for SCs/ STs in promotions could be struck down by the Supreme Court. The government is in favour of reservation for the SCs/ STs in...
12:36 PM, Aug 25, 2012
US Attorney General Eric Holder has called the gurudwara shooting "an act of terrorism, an act of hatred, a hate crime". ...
11:32 AM, Aug 11, 2012
Islamabad: Pakistan Attorney General Irfan Qadir created a ruckus in the courtroom Thursday by using "abusive remarks" against the Supreme Court judges and some "vulgar gesture", Geo News reported. The incident occurred when the apex court was hearing identical petitions challenging National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza's ruling not to pass on the disqualification reference against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to the Election Commission. On June 6, the court had...
02:00 PM, Jun 15, 2012
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday tried to do a U-turn in the Supreme Court on the issue of gay sex, saying there is no error in decriminalising gay sex. The government through the Health Ministry has told the court that it supports gay sex as interpreted by the Delhi High Court. The apex court pulled up the government for trying to change its stand. "Don't make a mockery of...
11:34 AM, Feb 28, 2012
New Delhi: The government is set to file a review petition against a recent Supreme Court order that set a deadline for granting sanction to prosecute public servants. Sources have said that the government has decided to act on the Attorney General's advice. He has reportedly advised the government to challenge the Supreme Court that set a deadline of four months for the government to decide on any application by...
07:54 AM, Feb 21, 2012
The Supreme Court had last week cancelled 122 2G licences that were issued by the UPA as the grounds for the policy were flawed. ...
05:36 PM, Feb 08, 2012
New Delhi: The Defence Ministry may have to go back to the drawing board and take a fresh look at how it handled the case after the Supreme Court questioned the manner in which General VK Singh's complaint about his age was rejected by the Ministry in December last year. The apex court has given the Ministry the option of withdrawing its December order before the matter is heard by...
01:49 PM, Feb 03, 2012
New Delhi: Attorney General G E Vahanvati on Wednesday denied in the Supreme Court that he was questioned by the CBI about his purported legal opinion to the Department of Telecom on the issue of grant of 2G spectrum. However, later he told reporters that the agency had approached him for some clarification. Mentioning a news report about CBI questioning him, before a bench of justices G S Singhvi and...
04:15 PM, Mar 16, 2011
New Delhi: Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati should recuse himself from the 2G spectrum scam case in the Supreme Court. Swamy claimed that former telecom minister A Raja, who has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the multi-crore case, had in a letter to the Prime Minister that he (Raja)...
01:42 PM, Feb 11, 2011
New Delhi: The Supreme Court came down heavily on the Central Government once again on the appointment of PJ Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). The apex court asked the Central Government if the service file of Thomas was taken into account along with his biodata before deciding on appointing him as the CVC. The court slammed the Government after Attorney General GE Vahanvati told the bench that a chargesheet...
01:36 PM, Feb 03, 2011
