NEW DELHI: Investigative website Cobrapost has exposed 11 MPs who were willing to write letters of recommendation for a fictitious foreign oil major for money.The investigation, panning over a year, exposes MPs from Congress, BJP, BSP, JD(U) and AIADMK willing to issue letters of recommendation to promote a fictitious Australian oil exploration company in exchange for fees ranging between Rs 50,000 to Rs 50 lakh. Six of these MPs even wrote the letters for a fee.Code-named 'Operation Falcon Claw', Cobrapost expose claims that the MPs were willing to not only write recommendation letters but also lobby with the Union ministry of petroleum to help the company secure oil exploration and rigging rights in the northeast.However, none of these 11 MPs bothered to check the antecedents of the company or check if the company was real, Cobrapost claimed. What they hankered after was money, quoting as low as Rs 50,000 to a mind-boggling Rs 50 lakh as the price for a letter of recommendation, delivered all in cash. One MP even demanded that his fee be delivered through a hawala operator. Six MPs issued letters of recommendation to Cobrapost.The parliamentarians who were exposed are K Sugumar and C Rajendran from AIADMK; Lalu Bhai Patel, Ravindra Kumar Pandey and Hari Manjhi from BJP; Vishwa Mohan Kumar, Maheshwar Hazari and Bhudeo Chaudhary from JD(U); Khiladi Lal Bairwa and Vikrambhai Arjanbhai from Congress; and Kaiser Jahan from BSP.Six MPs gave letters of recommendation in favour of Mediterranean Oil Inc, the fictitious firm, for a sum ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. Others were not willing to settle for less than Rs 5 lakh for a single letter, and in one case an MP quoted a ridiculously high price of Rs 50 lakh for a single letter.Apart from issuing letters of recommendation, some of these Lok Sabha MPs were ready to walk an extra mile to help with lobbying at the highest level of the petroleum ministry. Some would even offer to rope in a group of five MPs for the job.When Cobrapost reporter, for instance, suggested to Lalu Bhai Patel to pursue their case with the ministry, the BJP MP from Daman and Diu said, “Haan bhai (Yes, brother)!” We paid him Rs 50, 000 for a recommendation letter, as he also agreed to lobby. His fellow party leader Hari Manjhi from Gaya, Bihar, would come along for lobbying with the oil ministry: “Jayenge...chalenge (Will go...will come along).”Similarly, Maheshwar Hazari, the JD(U )MP from Samastipur, Bihar, said: “Jab tak hain tab tak aapki company ki madad karenge ... yahan se lekar mantralay tak, jahan tak kahiyega (Will help your company till my term lasts...from this level up to the ministry, wherever you ask).” Hazari would bring along a group of five MPs for lobbying with the ministry. We had to pay him Rs 5 lakh for each MP.Jasmir Ansari, the MLA husband of BSP MP Kaiser Jahan, went a step ahead and said: “...tumhara ye jo project hai poora kara denge...Sonia se kehke...kisi se bhi keh ke...toh kisse hum baat karein (...we will see your project through by talking to Sonia or somebody else...whom should we talk to [in your company]).” He charged Rs 5 lakh for three letters, one from his MP wife, and two from other MPs.Only a few parliamentarians played it safe by keeping the deal as much discrete as they could. They wouldn’t enter into direct negotiations with the party or talk money, and raised their brows when the Cobrapost reporter talked money.For instance, while AIADMK MP from Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, K Sugumar was “Ok” with money talk, his fellow party MP from South Chennai C Rajendran would have none of it. After paying his staff Rs 50,000 for a recommendation letter, when we managed to tell Lalu Bhai (BJP) about the payment, he shot back: “Mujhe nahin...ye baat mujhe nahin bolna (Not me...don’t tell me this thing).”But most of them had no problem discussing money with the Cobrapost reporter. Congress MP Khiladi Lal Bairwa quoted Rs 50 lakh for writing a recommendation letter and invited the Cobrapost reporter to his Mansarovar house in Rajasthan to deliver the “material.”