Justice PB Sawant claims he had held Anna Hazare guilty of corruption

Justice (retd) PB Sawant, whose probe found that an amount of Rs2.2 lakh was diverted from Anna Hazare’s Trust for his birthday celebrations, today said this action amounted to "corruption."

"An amount of Rs2.2 lakh was utilised from this Trust for his own felicitation. That is proved and Mr Hazare has not denied. Now you can't use money of the Trust for your own purpose. That amounts to corruption.

That's the only act of corruption that was proved, nothing more than that," Samant, a retired Supreme Court judge told TV channels.

Sawant made these remarks when asked to comment on the Congress's stand that his report has given details of corruption done by Hazare.

He said the utilisation of the Trust money for Hazare's birthday celebration in his home village in Maharashtra was the only one allegation proved against him.

The Maharashtra government had instituted a commission of inquiry under Justice PB Sawant in September 2003 to inquire into allegations of corruption and maladministration against several people, including four ministers and the Hind Swaraj Trust run by Hazare.

The commission submitted its report on February 22, 2005 in which it indicted Hind Swaraj Trust for spending 2.20 lakhs of its funds on the birthday celebrations of Hazare finding it to be a "corrupt" practice.