Blow to IAF projects: CBI to probe aero engine scam

by Rahul Singh

A bribery scandal involving aero engines threatens to cast a shadow over several key air force programmes.

The defence ministry has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe bribery allegations against British engineering company Rolls-Royce in connection with contracts to supply aircraft engines to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

The agency will investigate all contracts the firm signed with HAL during 2007-11, an official said.

The development could have serious implications for the military’s Hawk advanced jet trainer (AJT) programme, as the contracts relate to supplying Adour Mk871 engines for AJTs being built under-licence by HAL.

If charges are proved and the firm is eventually blacklisted, there could be implications for other projects too. Rolls-Royce engines also power the IAF’s C 130J Super Hercules special operations aircraft, Jaguar strike fighters and Embraer luxury jets for VVIPs. Roll-Royce could not be reached for comments.

India has inked separate contracts worth more than Rs. 15,000 crore with aerospace major BAE Systems for 123 AJTs. The air force plans to induct 106 AJTs (60-plus already in service), while the remaining are to be assigned to the navy. Only 24 AJTs were supplied by BAE Systems in ‘flyaway condition.’

The Hawks have simplified pilot training by serving as a bridge between subsonic trainers and supersonic fighters such as Sukhoi-30 MKI, Mirage 2000 and Jaguar that combat pilots finally fly.

Defence minister AK Antony has ordered the CBI probe weeks after arms dealer Sudhir Choudhrie and his son Bhanu were arrested in the UK for their alleged involvement in a kickback scandal involving Rolls-Royce. The Serious Fraud Office of the UK is currently probing allegations that the firm paid bribes to bag deals in China and Indonesia.

The investigation comes as a major blow to Rolls-Royce as it has a huge presence in India across defence aerospace, civil aerospace, energy and marine sectors. It has more than 1,350 engines in service in the country, including RB211 engines that power major gas pipelines with Gas Authority of India Limited.

Antony ordered the CBI probe after an HAL investigation found the bribery charges weren’t unsubstantiated.

via Hindustan Times

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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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CBI looking into DGR scam, Centre tells HC

The Centre today informed the Delhi High Court that CBI had been asked to go into the alleged scam in the Directorate General of Resettlement (DGR) for ex-servicemen.

“We have entrusted the matter to the CBI,” the government counsel told a Bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Rajiv Sahay Endlaw. The Bench was hearing a PIL case on the issue in which it had issued notice to the Union Cabinet, Defence and Finance Secretaries, besides the DGR, in September 2013.

The HC told the petitioner, Sunil Tripathi, that since the matter was already being looked into by the CBI, he could hand over all the evidence gathered by him to the investigation agency and disposed of the case. The Bench, however, granted liberty to him to approach the HC again if he found that the CBI probe was found wanting.

The scam relates to DGR’s resettlement schemes for ex-servicemen under which retired officers started business in the form of security, transport and coal loading agencies and national highway toll plaza management by recruiting retired soldiers.

DGR is part of the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare meant for training and rehabilitation of retired defence personnel through various self-employment schemes. It was alleged that since 2005 serious financial irregularities amounting to Rs 1,000-5,000 crore had taken place in the resettlement scheme through fake recruitments of ex-servicemen and collection of salaries in their names and by forging documents to show deposit of provident fund contributions.

Each of these agencies was allowed to recruit a maximum of 300 ex-servicemen as security guards on a monthly salary of Rs 25,000 to be posted at state-owned companies for a four-year period. Instead of actually recruiting any ex-soldier, some of the agencies produced a list of 300 recruits to raise their salary bills. A few other agencies did recruit security guards, but paid them only one-third of their entitlement, it was alleged.

via The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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