Former communications minister Sukh Ram, who has been out on bail during the 13-year-long trial, was on Friday found guilty by the court of misusing his official position during his tenure to award a contract worth `30 crores to Haryana Telecom Limited (HTL), a private firm, for supply of cables to the telecom department.
Special CBI judge R.P. Pandey also imposed a fine of `4 lakh on him.
The various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) under which he has been convicted entail a maximum jail term sentence of seven years.
Sukh Ram’s counsel pleaded to the court that his client had been attending the trial for the past 12 to 13 years and was suffering from age-related ailments, so the court should award him a lenient sentence.
The prosecutor, however, said Sukh Ram was a “habitual offender” who has been sentenced in two other cases also and thus deserved no leniency. “We should not forget that he was a MP and a minister and has betrayed the confidence of public at large,” the prosecutor said.
The CBI, in its chargesheet filed in 1998, had accused the leader from Himachal Pradesh of showing undue favour in awarding the cable supply contract to HTL.