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Washington, March 18 : The US has declined to comment on a purported cable released by WikiLeaks suggesting that India's United Progressive Alliance government sought to win the 2008 trust vote by bribing opposition members.
'It's allegedly classified. I'm not going to say it's classified or not. But it certainly - if it is classified, we wouldn't speak about it, and we're not going to speak about it in any way, shape, or form,' State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Thursday.
He was responding to a question about the purported cable from the US embassy suggesting that an aide of former union minister Satish Sharma had shown to a US diplomat money collected by Congress to purchase votes to win the July 22 confidence vote on the India-US nuclear deal.
Asked if the US condoned such 'corruption in government,' he said 'of course the United States is always for greater transparency in governments throughout the world because transparency in governments leads to better political systems that are able to help the people that they represent.'
'So, I mean, more broadly, we deal with corruption issues throughout - in many countries throughout the world. And that's an important part of our assistance efforts to many countries in the world. But specifically, what pertains to India, I really can't speak to that,' Toner said.
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