CBI may seek UK help in Hindustan Aeronautics corruption

Pramod Kumar. 

The CBI is likely to seek assistance of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of the UK in its investigations into the alleged payoffs to middleman by the London-based Rolls-Royce company to secure defence contracts worth `10,000 crores from the defence PSU, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

The Britain’s anti-fraud watchdog conducted its own investigations into the Rolls-Royce’s dealings in Asia. The CBI on March 21 had registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) to probe alleged payment of kickbacks in the purchase of spare parts of the engines of the helicopters to the industrial and marine gas turbine division of the HAL.

Sources said the PE has been registered against unknown officials of the HAL, M/s Rolls-Royce and the owner of the Aashmore Private Limited. The CBI is also scrutinising details of the internal audit conducted by the UK-based company, sources said.

“The CBI is probing alleged payment of kickbacks in the purchase of spare parts of the engines of the helicopters to the industrial and marine gas turbine division of HAL. The allegations surfaced in the form of a letter received by HAL recently claiming that bribes were paid to officials in HAL and other departments concerned to bag contracts”.

“We have come to know that M/s Rolls Royce is already under the scanner of the SFO (UK). The British engine manufacturer was ordered by the SFO to hand over details of possible bribery and corruption in China, Indonesia and other overseas markets in December 2012. The SFO probed the alleged use of intermediaries by the Rolls Royce to win certain overseas contract”, sources said. “The CBI may seek assistance of the SFO (UK) in its probe against the British firm”, sources said.

The CBI is also scrutinising details of the internal audit conducted by the UK-based company, sources said. Rolls Royce, in a letter written to HAL in December last, had said that it had employed a Singapore-based person identified as Ashok Patni and his firm Aashmore Private Limited as commercial advisor in India, providing sales and logistical support, local business support and strategic advice.

The firm also told HAL that it had severed ties with Aashmore and its owner in 2013. “The commissions, if any, paid by the firm are in violation of the procurement rules in India which prohibits hiring of middlemen or commission agents while transacting deals with the Defence ministry,” sources said.

via The Asian Age

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Irregularities in buying 119 SUVs for senior IAF officers

NEW DELHI: The CAG on Friday rapped the IAF for "irregularities" in procurement of 119 expensive Mahindra Scorpio and Toyota Innova SUVs — often used to ferry senior officers — in violation of provisions for replacing existing ones.

"We observe that in contravention of the extant orders, IAF headquarters had introduced between 2009 and 2011 two new types of vehicles — Scorpio and Innova — to replace the Maruti Gypsy and Tata Sumo respectively," said the audit watchdog.

IAF, for instance, procured 100 Scorpios at a cost of Rs 7.78 crore. "Scorpio was introduced to replace Maruti Gypsy, which was neither out of production nor redundant. By IAF's own admission, the Scorpio was costlier than existing category from maintenance and operational angle," it said.

The CAG said the procurement of these vehicles "was against the procurement manual provisions as specifications were not clearly mentioned keeping in view the specific needs of the IAF but similar vehicles offered by different firms were not evaluated either on specification or cost basis".

Moreover, IAF approved procurement of 19 Innovas for their utilisation in Su-30 MKI combat aircraft squadrons and units situated at hill-stations for Rs 1.19 crore.

"We observed there was no deficiency of similar vans and there was an excess of 88 similar vehicles against authorisation. None of the 19 Innovas was allotted to the units for whom these were stated to have been procured. They were allotted to other units in contravention of the defence ministry orders," said CAG.

via The Economic Times

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Ex-general offered VK Singh bribe for Tatra deal: CBI

Abhishek Sharan. 

The CBI on Tuesday charged Lieutenant General (retd) Tejinder Singh with allegedly offering a Rs. 14-crore bribe to then army chief VK Singh in 2010, on the basis of circumstantial evidence that includes then defence minister AK Antony’s statement.

The alleged offer was made to clear the purchase of 1,676 “sub-standard” Tatra-BEML trucks at a time when VK Singh — now a minister of state at the Centre — had sought a review of acquisitions from the trucks’ manufacturer, said the charge sheet, which was submitted in a city court. It was filed under section 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and alleged the offer was made on behalf of the trucks’ suppliers.

Antony confirmed to the CBI that the former chief had complained to him about the bribe offer, allegedly made on September 22, 2010, and asked him to “pursue” the matter, a CBI source said. VK Singh, too, had maintained that he had verbally informed Antony within hours of the incident.


“Former defence minister Antony’s witness statement forms a vital part of our case against the retired lieutenant general. It corroborates the chain of events… given to us by former army chief VK Singh,” said the source.

Calling the charge sheet “politically motivated” and an “abuse of power”, Tejinder Singh told HT, “My interaction with the agency clearly indicated there was no credible evidence. Now, with a change of government, there seems to be a change of heart in the agency.”

HT was the first to report on May 6 that the CBI had recorded Antony’s statement in the Tatra case.

He told the CBI he had made a statement in Parliament in March 2012 about the alleged bribe offer and ordered a CBI probe, the source added.

The CBI launched its probe in October 2012 on the defence ministry’s request. Since the alleged offer was made inside the army chief’s chamber, no eyewitness accounts were available and a purported recording of the conversation, provided by VK Singh, did not prove useful.

“Among other key evidence are versions of the then army chief’s personal staff, who said that after the meeting in which the bribe was offered, the former army chief instructed them to never again let the accused into his official chamber,” the agency source said. VK Singh had told the CBI the alleged offer had left him seething and he had thrown the accused out of his office. 

 

via Hindustan Times

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Corruption charges on military scientist

Pramod Kumar. 

The CBI is investigating graft allegations against a senior scientist associated with the Combat Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE Chennai) of the ministry of defence (MoD). The scientist under the scanner was part of a project on the production of India’s main battle tank, Arjun, sources said.

Sources in the agency said, “Initial investigations by the CBI have revealed that the scientist allegedly took a bribe from a private firm for giving a satisfactory report to a company which was developing assembly forged steel track links for the battle tank Arjun during an inspection in 2012.”

The suspected firm was given supply orders by the Defence Ordnance Factory for developing steel track links for the battle tank, they said. Arjun is a third-generation main battle tank developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Army. It features a 120-mm main rifled gun, one 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and a 12.7 mm machine gun.

The agency recently registered a preliminary enquiry to probe the allegation against the scientist.

“The agency will soon seek clarifications from the scientist as well as the suspected firm. The agency will also seek clarifications from certain senior officials of the MoD,” sources said.

“If the CBI finds incriminating evidence during the inquiry, it would register a regular case into the matter. Without registering a regular case, the agency does not have the power to call anybody to the CBI headquarters for recording the statement. If the agency decides to convert the PE into a regular case, only then can the CBI send summons to the people. At this point of time, the CBI can only seek clarifications from them,” sources said.

The CBI is also preparing to take assistance of former MoD officials in this case. “Former MoD officials associated with the project may be quizzed to understand the issues related to the case. Besides, the CBI may take the assistance of ordnance factory officials,” sources said.

via The Asian Age

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Ex IAF chief slapped with money laundering case by ED

NEW DELHI: After showing sluggish movement in the recent past, the AugustaWestland deal probe seems to be gathering momentum under the new regime.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday registered a money laundering case against former IAF chief S P Tyagi and others in connection with the case of alleged kickbacks received in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal.

The development came on the day Goa governor B V Wanchoo resigned shortly after being questioned by CBI in connection with the case. Only days earlier, West Bengal governor M K Narayanan became the first governor to be questioned in connection with the alleged scam by CBI. He resigned subsequently. Both claimed they were questioned as witnesses in the case.

ED, which earlier registered a case under foreign exchange laws in this deal, decided to slap a criminal case to track the "illegal money" of the bribe, alleged to be over Rs 360 crore, dealt between the middlemen and other people named by CBI in its FIR filed in March 2013.

Taking cognisance of the more-than-a-year-old CBI complaint, the agency has booked Tyagi, his family members, European nationals Carlo Gerosa, Christian Michel and Guido Haschke and four companies — Italy-based Finmeccanica, UK-based AgustaWestland and Chandigarh-based IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix — in its criminal complaint filed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

A total of 13 entities have been named by ED in the case. Sources said the agency will soon initiate the process of recording of statements of these people even as it dispatches Letters Rogatory (LRs), or judicial requests to a few European countries, including Italy, seeking their cooperation.

CBI sources said Wanchoo was questioned to know whether the elite Special Protection Group was in the know of former IAF chief S P Tyagi's alleged connivance with officials of AgustaWestland. It is learnt that Wanchoo was asked about the meeting which took place in 2005 where decision to lower the service ceiling of the helicopters, which made AgustaWestland eligible, was taken.

Meanwhile, ED sources said the agency has already zeroed in on some immovable and movable assets of the accused which will be attached under the provisions of the laundering laws.

In order to track the alleged "bribe money" in this deal, it was important for the agency to register a criminal case as that would pave the way for it to seek cooperation from other countries under existing treaties and tax information exchange protocols, sources said.

The supply of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland came under the scanner after Italian authorities alleged that bribe was paid by the company to clinch the deal.

The Italian prosecutor who carried out the preliminary inquiry alleged that the CEO of Finmeccanica, the parent company of UK-based AgustaWestland, had used the services of middlemen to bribe Indian officials.

via The Times of India

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India’s defense sector still plagued by corruption

Deba R. Mohanty.

India’s defense procurement sector continues to be rocked by instances of corruption and wrongdoing that have the potential to compromise the country’s military modernization program. Worse still, such irregularities may yet have a bearing on domestic politics ahead of May’s presidential elections.

Current controversies

At least three major scandals – two of them related to purchases by ordnance factories and one to the Indian Air Force (IAF) – have led to the blacklisting of nine companies in the past eight years. Currently, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating more than twenty cases of corruption and undue influence. India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has also blacklisted four major international companies - Rheinmetall Air Defence (RAD), Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd. (STK), Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) and Corporation Defence Russia (CDR) – and the former chief of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) was arrested and jailed in 2010 for wrongdoing.

More recently, the MoD cancelled the purchase of 12 AW 101 helicopters worth $570 million as a result of the violation of an Integrity Pact by Finmeccanica subsidiary Augusta Westland International (UK) Limited. The violation resulted in investigations by the CBI into the activities of 11 individuals, including top executives of Augusta and Finmeccanica, the former Chief of the IAF, as well as four additional companies (two foreign and two). Opposition parties have also used the violation to pressure the Indian defense minister A K Antony into making a suo moto statement on the issue, which he is likely to make in the current session of Parliament, if he is allowed to.

However, New Delhi’s response to the AW 101 contract has thus far been confusing. First, while the ‘chopper scam’ is under investigation by the CBI, questions have been raised over the wisdom of the Indian Foreign Policy Promotion Board (FIPB)’s - the agency that approves foreign investments in India – decision to give the nod to a joint venture between Augusta Westland and Tata Sons known as Indian Rotorcraft Limited. The company will assemble single engine helicopters and cater to the domestic as well as global markets. In light of recent developments, the MoD is far from comfortable with this decision.

Conversely, the Indian Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) - the body which approves all defense acquisition proposals - has put the proposed purchase of 98 Black Shark heavy weight torpedoes for the ongoing Scorpene submarine project on ice. These are manufactured by Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquel, which also happens to be a subsidiary of Finmeccanica. Adding to the confusion is the current status of the tender for 127 mm guns for Indian Navy warships. BAe Systems has reportedly left the tendering process, leaving Oto Melara – another Finmeccanica subsidiary – as the single bidder.

Finally, India’s protracted Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition remains a thorn in New Delhi’s side. While A K Antony continues to argue that a final decision on the acquisition of 126 fighter aircraft has been delayed due to time-consuming negotiations on life cycle cost calculations and offset arrangements, insiders blame the slowness on lengthy investigations into various complaints lodged by senior Indian politicians. These include Yashwant Sinha, the head of the powerful Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, who has even written a letter to the Defence Minister, urging him to reconsider the MMRCA contract.

Nothing new

However, corruption associated with defense purchases has plagued Indian military acquisitions for decades. The Bofors scandal of the late 1980s, for example, is a case in point. In order to win a contract to supply India with field guns, the Swedish industrial giant allegedly gave kickbacks to then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and members of his government. This not only resulted in the fall of Gandhi’s Indian National Congress government, its negative impact on the Indian artillery modernization continues to haunt the country’s Army. As a result, at least four rounds of artillery purchase tenders have either been cancelled or re-tendered in the last ten years, leading to serious problems in terms of availability and supply. Accordingly, investigations into the AW 101 contract may also have serious implications for India’s military modernization program, especially if Finmeccanica and its subsidiaries are blacklisted as a result of CBI investigations, even though both cases are different.

So why has New Delhi failed to bring corrupt practices that hurt the country’s military development – and, indeed, its defense industry - under control? Such problems can be traced back to what may be termed as the ‘systemic complexities’ found within the administrative organs of the state, most notably the MoD. These ‘complexities’ have allowed the MoD and its Integrated Headquarters to function in a closed and relatively autonomous manner for generations. Indeed, such practices continue to this day despite the introduction of a series of reforms to the higher defense management sector over the past decade or so.

In addition, the Indian Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) remains a complex process that often invites trouble. Currently, the DPP consists of a 12 step procurement process, starting with a request for information (RFI) and concluding with the signing of a contract and post-contract management. While the MoD is ultimately responsible for awarding the contract, there are still too many multi-disciplinary oversight committees that blur the accountability factor. Vaguely worded procedural requirements and ill-defined or insufficiently explained provisions, like ‘offsets’, pre-contract integrity pact’, ‘transfer of technology’ (to name but a few), also make tender processes complicated.

Indeed, such provisions are quite often tweaked to suit the needs of vendors. For instance, the DPP also has a section entitled ‘political and strategic considerations’. This gives the MoD the power to choose a weapons system from a particular state and/or supplier that also offers other political and strategic dividends. So while negotiations and processes associated with the MMRCA contract might have followed rules and regulations, such ‘dividends’ cannot be ruled out. Finally, preliminary investigations and legal procedures associated with tender processes can run for years, if not decades. Little wonder then that the DPP has been revised nine times in the past 12 years, but still fails to address issues of transparency and accountability in a meaningful manner.

Flattering to deceive

It should be noted that it took nearly two decades for the CBI to file a closure report on the Bofors scandal, an outcome that only reinforces that vendors and end-users both end up losing if arms deals of this magnitude go wrong. It also took nearly a decade for it to file a similar report on the role of South Africa’s Denel in an ordnance factory scam. In this respect, A K Antony’s continued determination in recent years to blacklist contractors, cancel contracts and even punish individuals is to be commended. India most certainly needs robust armed forces modernization and a transparent defense procurement system to realize its key objectives. However, the complexity and apparent opacity of the DPP – not to mention decisions taken by organs like the FIPB – suggest that New Delhi’s push for transparency will fall short of expectations for the foreseeable future.

via ISN

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Corruption tainted firm ‘hosted’ IAF former chief Fali Major

In a fresh development in the scam-tainted VVIP chopper deal, lawyers of AgustaWestland have reportedly told an Italian court that its parent company Finmeccanica had hosted the then IAF chief FH Major in 2007, a period when the bidders were being shortlisted.

Lawyers of the Anglo-Italian firm also told the court in Busto Arsizio that there was no meeting between Italian officials and the other former IAF chief SP Tyagi, who is named in a CBI FIR, said reports in the Italian media.

A former AgustaWestland official James Saporito had claimed during the last hearing on February 4 that he had hosted Tyagi during one of his visits to that country.

Lawyers said Saporito seemed to be confused over the identity of the person with whom he had had dinner while he was working with the company. Agusta lawyers also shared pictures of Major along with the company officials at a dinner hosted by the firm, said reports. Reacting to the report, Major said he had visited Finmeccanica in 2007 during an official trip to Italy and the company had hosted him, along with his delegation members, for a dinner.

He said his visit had been approved by the government and programme chalked out by officials concerned as well as the Indian Embassy in Italy. "It was not for my personal requirement but for the delegation which was visiting the country," he told a TV channel. The trials of the choppers were held after Major took over from Tyagi on April one, 2007.

The CAG, while auditing the deal, had observed that the trials of the Agusta copters were conducted abroad and not in India and had questioned Major's justification in this regard. The trials for the AgustaWestland model were conducted on representative Merlin helicopters and not on the actual craft whereas the other contender, Sikorsky, had offered its S-92 for try-outs, the CAG had said.

via The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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Another ex IAF chief named in VVIP helicopter corruption

Bhupendra Chaubey. 

In a case that is bound to bring the Indian Air Force back in the news for wrong reasons yet again, former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major has been named in the infamous, AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam even as the allegations against former IAF chief SP Tyagi are already under probe.

The defence lawyers for AgustaWestland's parent company Finmeccanica have brought up the name of former IAF chief Fali Major and claimed that he accepted the hospitality of the company officials in Italy on his trip to the country.

On Wednesday, former senior Vice President of Agusta, Giacomo Saporano had said that former Air chief SP Tyagi had accepted the firm's hospitality in Italy in 2007.

Although the dates mentioned by Saporano showed that it was Fali Major, the then air chief, who was in Italy on those dates and not Tyagi. Finmeccanica's defence lawyers are claiming that Saporano got confused with the names and dates and it was Fali Major who was in Italy on those dates.

Fali Major was the air chief from April 2007 to May 2009 and Finmeccanica lawyers are claiming that he knew more about technical specifications since he is a helicopter pilot and hence was being hosted by the firm.

Meanwhile, Major has admitted that he accepted Finmeccanica's hospitality, but added that it was approved by the Indian High Commission in Italy. Fali also maintained that he was in no way influenced by Finmeccanica.

Former IAF chief SP Tyagi has already been named as an accused in the Italian case. He is also being investigated as an accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which has registered a case into the scandal.

via IBN Live

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CBI to question cousins of former IAF chief again

Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi

After questioning of alleged middleman Guido Haschke in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, the CBI will soon begin a fresh round of questioning of cousins of former IAF chief S P Tyagi to find out the end use of money paid to them.

Haschke, who was questioned first by Defence Ministry officials and later by the CBI, had told the probe agency that money was given to Tyagi brothers for the engineering works and meeting other administrative requirements in India, official sources said.

Arrested in Switzerland in September last year and later extradited to Italy to face the trial, Haschke had denied that he had ever met the former IAF Chief or handed over any money to him to clear the VVIP helicopter deal in favour of AgustaWestland.

Tyagi refused to comment on the development, saying, "I have been saying this earlier as well. I do not wish to say anything on this issue."

A case was registered by CBI against Tyagi and 12 others for alleged cheating, corruption and criminal conspiracy in the Rs 3600 crore VVIP helicopter deal in which Rs.360 crore was said to have been paid as kickbacks.

Now the CBI will be summoning his cousins--Sanjeev alias Julie and Rajeev alias Docsa and Sandeep for a fresh round of questioning as Haschke has alleged that he had paid money to them for engineering works at IDS Chandigarh, paying rents and meeting administrative expenses in India.

They have been questioned last year during which they had denied any wrongdoings.

CBI has alleged in its FIR that middleman Haschke through his Tunisia-based company Gordian Services Sarl entered into several consultancy contracts with AgustaWestland from 2004-05 onwards and "almost on back-to-back basis he also made consultancy contracts with the Tyagi brothers (former IAF chief's cousins)".

via Zee News

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Army officer gets bail in bribery case

Asseem Shaikh. 

PUNE: A CBI special court in Pune on Friday granted bail a major-rank officer at the Pune based College of Military Engineering (CME) in connection with an allegations that he accepted a bribe of Rs 6,500 in exchange for giving certain sanctions to a contractor.

The officer Major Gurdev Singh was released on a personal bond of Rs 20,000 on furnishing surety of the like amount. The court warned Singh not to enter CME. He was directed to co-operate with the CBI whenever he was called for questioning. The court last week rejected his first bail plea.

He filed a second bail plea which was considered by the court.

Singh was arrested on December 30. He was posted as an Assistant Garrison Engineer at CME.

CBI has registered a case under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Singh and junior engineer Sudhir Ranjan Jena upon "allegations that the accused demanded 3% each of Rs 2.16 lakh which the complainant (contractor) had received as payment, in respect of the work executed by him in the month of Decem-ber, 2013".

"The accused persons told the contractor that unless they received the money, they would not allow him to execute the full contracted work and also put his firm on the slow progress list," a CBI spokesperson said here.

Acting on a complaint by the contractor, CBI sleuths laid a trap and Singh was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe of Rs 6,500 from the former.

"Searches were conducted at the official and residential premises of the accused at Pune and Jalandhar Cantt. Which yielded cash of Rs 1.44 lakh (approx) and some documents which are under scrutiny," the spokesperson added.

via The Times of India

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Three Colonels booked for job scam in the Army, face arrest

Vikram Rautela. Busting a major recruitment scam in the Indian Military Academy (IMA) here, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked three serving lieutenant colonels, including two from the IMA, on charges of forgery and conspiracy. The officers are accused of issuing fake experience certificates to candidates and replacing their original answer sheets during group C and group D recruitments held by the IMA in 2011-12.


The CBI registered a case against the accused in Dehradun earlier this week and a formal chargesheet is expected soon. Sources said the three officers and some others may be arrested soon by CBI sleuths.

The accused — Lt. Col. Akhilesh Mishra, Lt. Col. Jagdish Bishnoi (the then catering officer in IMA and member of the selection board for group 'C' category) and Lt. Col. Ambarish Tewari (the then Admin Officer in the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) and member of the selection board for group 'D' category) — have been booked for conspiracy, forgery and furnishing of fake documents. "Further investigations are on and some arrests are likely," a CBI source said.

According to CBI, the accused had issued forged documents to facilitate recruitment of 34 candidates and helped in replacing the original answer sheets of 16 others in order to help them clear the written test. "The three had taken money for this work. The exact amount, however, is a matter of investigation," the source added.

The IMA had in the year 2011-12 recruited a total of 286 group C and group D employees after a rigorous recruitment process.

IMA spokesperson Prashant Tripathi, said documents and experience certificates issued to a large number of IMA employees were found fake during the authentication process of the academy. "The CBI came into the picture because of an alarmingly large number of such cases this time," he said.

The department of personnel and training (DoPT) directed the Dehradun branch of CBI to take up the case a few months ago. "A preliminary inquiry was registered following allegations that some officers of the IMA and RIMC had committed 'irregularities' during the IMA recruitment process," a CBI officer told TOI.

During the investigations that followed, CBI gathered sufficient evidence to establish the alleged role of these three senior army men in the recruitment scam. The agency filed two regular cases under various IPC sections for criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery and under the Prevention of Corruption Act, against the officers as well as candidates selected on the basis of the fake documents.

via Times Of India

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Case registered against Army officer for bribe

The CBI has registered a case against a Brigadier working with the Army Aviation Corps (AAC) for allegedly fudging trial flight records of helicopters.

The CBI received a document from Italy that shows that the officer demanded five million Euro bribe in 2010 from AgustaWestland.

The case under sections of Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered Brigadier V S Saini and unknown officers of the Army and the Defence Ministry after the agency received a fresh set of documents from Italian police, CBI officials said.

Saini and others have been also charged with abuse of official position and forgery among others. The Brigadier could not be reached for comments.


The CBI claimed that Saini was part of the team carrying out trials of helicopters.
The AAC was planning to purchase 197 light helicopters to replace its ageing Cheetah and Chetak fleet.

These choppers were meant to undertake reconnaissance and casualty evacuation operations in forward locations and high-altitude areas like Siachen, Ladakh, North Kashmir and Northeast. However, the acquisition process was cancelled in December 2007.

 During the investigations into the VVIP chopper deal involving AgustaWestland, the Italian investigators found mention of Saini in documents seized by them. In the VVIP chopper deal, former Air Chief S P Tyagi and 12 others were named and recently the government scrapped the deal with AgustaWestland.

Saini is accused of fudging the records of the trial flight of the helicopter to favour the company for which he and other unknown officers have received hefty commission.

via Deccan Herald

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Helicopter deal canceled due to Rs 360 crore bribe to IAF officers

The UPA government has done well to scrap the controversial Rs 3,700 crore deal with the Anglo-Italian company Agusta Westland for the supply of 12 VVIP helicopters to the defence ministry. The cancellation of the deal has been under consideration ever since credible reports of kickbacks amounting to Rs 360 crore to Indian Air Force officers and others had appeared in the public realm.

The senior most officer of the force, the then chief SP Tyagi himself, and his relatives were alleged to have been involved, as it was during Tyagi's tenure that changes were made in the operational requirements of the helicopters to award the deal to Augusta Westland. The government had frozen the deal earlier this year pending investigations into the reports of irregularities in decision-making and payment of bribes as quid pro quo.

The deal has been cancelled on the ground of breach of a pre-contract integrity pact which had mandated regular and corruption-free procedures for execution of the order. Though the government had disfavoured the arbitration process earlier, it has now agreed to it to settle the issues. But this does not mean the criminal proceedings initiated after the CBI started investigating the deal will be dropped. Preliminary inquiries have brought out the role of officials and middle men and even the money trails of the kickbacks paid to secure the deal are now known. The investigations should continue and those who were responsible for the irregularities should be held accountable and brought to book. Out of the 12 helicopters which were ordered three have been supplied and a good part of the contracted amount has been paid to the company. The company will have to be forced to return the money as it is in breach of the contract.

The cancellation of the deal should send a strong message to suppliers of arms and armaments, middlemen and officials that corruption would not be tolerated and those who are involved in irregularities will have to pay a price. Defence deals have been notorious for corruption. It might be cynical to observe that the government has taken strong and decisive action because only officials were apparently involved in the irregularities. Not many major arms deals have been cancelled in the past on the grounds on which the Augusta deal was scrapped. It might serve as a warning.

via Deccan Herald

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Army officers booked for harassing junior who exposed corruption

Kshitiz Gaur. Acting on a court order, Rajasthan police have registered an FIR against six Army officers for harassing a junior officer and trying to prove him to be mentally ill after he raised his voice against the misappropriation of funds.

A court in Nasirabad, a cantonment town, ordered the FIR against two brigadiers, two colonels and two majors on December 18 on the complaint made by Lieutenant Colonel Arun Kumar of 374 Composite RT Brigade of Nasirabad cantonment.

Police registered the FIR on December 19, but the issue has come to light only now. The Army has also initiated an inquiry into the allegations.

The FIR has been filed against station commander Brigadier A K Ganguly, his deputy Colonel Lalit Agnihotri and against another officer, Colonel Rohit Jha. It also names medical officers Brigadier Sanjeev Vaspyan, Major S V Rekha, Major Gurmendra Singh and the administration registrar of the Nasirabad Army hospital.

In his complaint, Lt Col Kumar said when he discovered the misappropriation of funds and the misuse of the budget in the Army, he raised a voice against it. But senior officers disliked his attitude and conspired to declare him mental ill. "Brigadier Ganguly, Col Agnihotri and Col Jha conspired against me and on May 17 they issued a notice in Form 10 which states that I am mentally ill," said the complainant. Lt Col Kumar said he was harassed in Nasirabad hospital and all three officers threatened he would not able to continue his service in the Army.

The complainant was then referred to the Army hospital in Jodhpur for further check-up. "Even there, senior Army officers harassed me and I wrote to the commissioner of police (Jodhpur) to save me from the harassment on May 21," he said in the complaint.

After Lt Col Kumar pleaded his case before the chief of Army staff, he was sent to the Ahmedabad Army hospital, where he was found fit and sent back to resume duty in Nasirabad.

The court directed police to register a case on the charges that the senior officers manipulated the law, framed documents that are known to be incorrect, fabricated false evidences and criminally conspired against Lt Col Kumar.

"We registered the FIR on December 19 and are investigating the matter," said Ashok Meena, SHO of Nasirabad city police station. "We also called the complainant to verify the documents."

Defence spokesperson Col S D Goswami said: "The Army is taking up the issue and already a court of inquiry has been initiated." He said senior officers are looking into the case to restore discipline in the Army.

via The Times of India

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