Bharat Rakshak

Army only cares for the high value imports, why?

And all that talk about keeping soldiers alive......

A retired Lt Gen of the Indian Army was cashiered and sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment by General Court Martial (GCM) in the ration scam. The GCM of Lt Gen (retd) SK Sahni was held at the 11 Corps headquarters.

Sahni is the first officer of Lt Gen rank to face GCM post-retirement. He was already under "close arrest" (house arrest) for the last seven months and put under arrest by the Army on July 31 last year, barely a week before GCM proceedings began on August 6. On Friday, the GCM began at 8.30am and concluded after 7 in the evening.

Convicted for "intent to defraud`` in procurement of rations, the GCM held Sahni guilty under six of the nine charges framed against him. The scam pertained to 2005, when Sahni was director, general supplies and transport. He retired in 2006, after putting in around 40 years of service. In this case, Army had invoked special provisions under the Army Act, according to which any retired officer can be called back for court martial proceedings for offences committed during his service tenure that had come to light before or after his superannuation

The GCM found that while a department Court of Inquiry was ordered in procurement of contaminated whole masoor dal, terms of reference were not fixed. The pulse was contaminated by "kesri peas" and "akar" — both banned under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act due to their poisonous nature. The court found him guilty under Section 63 of the Army Act. Another charge proved against Sahni was that he allowed up-gradation of the material supplied even though there was no provision for it under rules. The GCM also held that he had failed to prevent consumption of contaminated dal by troops even when it was known that it was bad for their health. Two other charges pertained to "permitting price reduction in Risk Purchase Contract of kabuli chana``.

Sahni had approached the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) for relief against his prosecution but failed to get any respite. The AFT had asked the Army authorities to conclude the GCM proceedings in a time bound manner.

Six Major Generals were made members of the GCM headed by the Lt Gen Jatinder Singh, who pronounced the sentence. Earlier, Judge Advocate NK Ohri read out the reasons for conviction and the GCM held that with such a long experience in Army Supply Corps (ASC), the officer could not take refuge under any ignorance of rules. The prosecution case was led by advocate DS Ahluwalia of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The sentence would be subject to confirmation by the defence ministry. Before pronouncement of the sentence, Sahni`s counsel, while pleading the mitigating circumstances, held that his client had been already under close arrest for around seven months and was in poor medical condition. The period of his close arrest would be included in the 3 year RI.

Interestingly, a cardiac ambulance of the Military Hospital remained parked outside the venue when GCM proceedings were on. Sahni claims to have developed a serious heart ailment and ''a very painful spinal disorder''. It is learnt that he had earlier produced a recommendation of a private cardiologist, that he required a surgical procedure but Army cardiologists had ruled it out.

Charges against Army`s other senior officers

---- Lt Gen PK Rath: The former commander of 33 Corps, was found guilty in Sukna land scam in which a private contractor was issued a No-Objection Certificate to transfer a 70-acre plot adjacent to the military station in West Bengal's Siliguri district

--- Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash: The former military secretary is also facing charges of fraud in the Sukna land scam

--- Lt Gen SK Dahiya: From Army Service Corps (ASC), he was slapped charges of irregularities in procurement of frozen meat for troops posted in Ladakh

--- Lt Gen AK Nanda: The former engineer-in-chief was accused of sexual assault by the wife of a junior officer, during an official visit to Israel in April 2010. However, he was let off by a Court of Inquiry

--- Maj Gen Anand Swaroop & Maj Gen SP Sinha faced separate charges of irregularities in the purchase of stores in 2009

NEW DELHI: Corruption has seeped so much into the defence establishment that even projects connected with national security are failing to emerge unscathed. An inquiry ordered by the Central Vigilance Commission into Project Deepak of Border Roads Organization (BRO) has opened a can of worms, with shocking tales of manipulation of tenders, cartelization, lack of quality control and use of substandard material to maintain and construct crucial roads.

The audit conducted by the chief technical examiner (CTE) of the Border Roads Development Board (BRDB), in fact, found the quality of roads and bridges in some stretches is so pathetic that "specialized Army vehicles will find it extremely tough to use them in times of emergency."

The report is especially alarming since China has gone in for a massive upgrade of its border infrastructure over the last decade, with an extensive rail network and over 58,000km of roads in the Tibet Autonomous Region. India, in contrast, is floundering to make the 73 all-weather roads earmarked for construction along the 4,056-km Line of Actual Control with China, with not even 20 of them being completed so far.

The CTE inspection report, which has indicted several top BRO officers, was recently submitted to the defence ministry as well as the CVC, said sources. On being contacted, minister of state for defence M M Pallam Raju, who is also the BRDB chairperson, however, said, "I have been travelling for the last 10 days. I don`t specifically remember seeing anything like that. But if an inquiry is held, we will definitely follow procedures and take action."

BRO also downplayed the report, holding that such checks were "a routine matter" and "corrective action" was taken if needed. But with Project Deepak being just one of the several such whose primary task is to construct strategic roads and other infrastructure along the fronts with China and Pakistan, there are fears that similar stories are being repeated elsewhere. The inspection report itself says that "proper investigation" by an "outside agency" is required to "reveal all the facts."

The technical audit inspected 31 works and purchase contracts under Project Deepak, including the Manali-Sarchu, Hindustan-Tibet and Dhami-Kiongal roads in Himachal Pradesh, undertaken from September 2005 to October 2010.

But it was forced to drop the work associated with the proposed 8.8-km long Rohtang Tunnel due to "reluctance" of the directorate general of border roads to "provide tender documents and correspondence of the contract".

As for the works examined, the report says, "Serious types of financial irregularities and manipulations regarding award and administration of contracts, besides poor quality of works execution and documentation, have been observed by the chief engineer (quality control) both in contractual and departmental execution."

Though the report gives an estimate of "more than Rs 100 crore" of financial irregularities in "selected contracts", it warns that the "actual figures may be manifold higher". "Financial management is lacking in BRO," it says, adding that officials responsible for irregularities get away scot free since there is "no accountability."

While BRO`s in-house capability and resources are being "misused" or under-utilized, "more and more contracts are being outsourced to private constructors." The report dwells upon how only a few contractors are being favoured with contracts after contracts, without any market rate analysis, transparency and "healthy competition in violation of CVC and other guidelines". Moreover, tender rates are being pegged way above the actual costs by "showing false scarcity of road construction material" at or near the work sites, among other things.

Even more worrying is the finding that "practically no quality control" has been exercised during execution of contracts to repair or construct roads. "Neither the material conforms to the stipulated specifications and gradation, nor are the thickness and quality ensured...it`s a matter of grave concern that locally-available quarry spoil/river bed material has been used without proper compaction and wet rolling," says the report.

Even roads constructed or repaired by BRO are plagued by similar problems, with total disregard of "geometric standards" and strategic needs. Take the widening of the Manali-Sarchu road, which is part of the strategic Manali-Leh highway. "Quality of execution is extremely poor. Road geometrics is not being achieved as per laid down standards...Specialized Army vehicles cannot move easily during emergency on this vital axis to Leh (J&K)," it says.

Bridges, too, are being constructed without proper planning and care. For instance, the report dubs as "technically unsafe" the 50-metre span steel super-structure bridge being constructed over the Koksar Nallah on the Manali-Sarchu road.

Top officials of BEML Limited, a Bangalore-based company, and the defence ministry have siphoned off at least Rs750 crore in bribes and commissions over the past 14 years in the purchase of components for Tatra trucks, backbone of the army’s artillery and transportation wings.

A defence ministry probe has blown the lid off a Rs 1,500-crore land scandal in the border state of Jammu and Kashmir that could have serious security implications. An internal probe by the defence ministry found that private parties were allowed to buy more than 200 acres near sensitive military installations in Srinagar on the basis of no-objection certificates (NoCs) that were granted fraudulently.
The probe points to collusion among officials of the defence estates department and state government and land sharks who got together to sell the land on the fringes of the high-security air force station and 15 Corps headquarters.

The corps is at the centre of counter-terrorism operations in the Valley and responsible for guarding a 300-km stretch of the line of control running between the Pir Panjal range and Zojila.

Defence minister AK Antony has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the case, which early estimates indicate will put the Sukna and Adarsh scandals in the shade.

The land is priced anywhere between Rs 1,200 crore and Rs 1,500 crore.

The ministry ordered an in-house probe after receiving complaints that defence land near high-security installations had been sold off illegally.

More than 70 NoCs issued during the last four years are being looked into.

“The initial probe has revealed that at least four NoCs were granted illegally to sell off defence land. Only a CBI investigation can reveal the exact scale of this scam,” sources close to the inquiry said.

The NoCs said the defence ministry had never acquired the land, contrary to records that show that the government bought the land in the 1960s.

The first head has already rolled, more are on the block. The ministry has suspended defence estates officer, Srinagar circle, the sources said.

"The scam wouldn't have been possible without the involvement of officials at different levels. The jurisdiction of DEO Srinagar circle covers several districts in the Valley,” one of the sources said.

Four generals were indicted by an army court of inquiry in December 2009 for facilitating the transfer of 70 acres of land, valued at Rs 300 crore, adjacent to Sukna military station in West Bengal to a Siliguri-based businessman.

The Adarsh housing society in Mumbai was meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil war heroes and widows. It was, however, converted into a 31-storey building in violation of multiple norms, with senior army officials and relatives of politicians getting the flats.

....

Q- Quarter century later, any reflections on why Rajiv Gandhi’s name came up?

A– There was no evidence that he had received any bribe. But he watched the massive cover-up in India and Sweden and did nothing. Many Indian institutions were tarred, innocent people were punished while the guilty got away. The evidence against Ottavio Quattrrocchi was conclusive. Through a front company called A.E. Services, bribes paid by Bofors landed in Quattrocchi’s account which he subsequently cleaned out because India said there was no evidence linking him to the Bofors deal. Nobody in Sweden or Switzerland was allowed to interrogate him.

Ardbo was terrified about this fact becoming public. He had hidden it even from his own marketing director Hans Ekblom who said marketing middlemen had a role, but not political payments. Ardbo was also concerned about the role of Arun Nehru who had told Bofors in 1985 that his name and Rajiv Gandhi’s name should not appear anywhere. As the stories began to appear, Ardbo knew what I knew. He had written in his notes that the identity of N (Nehru) becoming public was a minor concern but at no cost could the identity of Q (Quattrocchi) be revealed because of his closeness to R (Rajiv Gandhi). He had also mentioned a meeting between an A.E. Services official and a Gandhi trustee lawyer in Geneva. This was a political payment. These payments are made when the deal has to be inked and all the numbers are on the table. I spent long-hours interrogating Ardbo. He told me Nehru was the eminence grise but not much more. He said often that he would take the truth with him to his grave. I met him a little while before he passed away.

Under pressure from Swedish and Indian media and with the threat of a cancellation of the contract hanging over them, Bofors sent its top executives to India with the one-point task of giving out the names. Nobody of any consequence received them.

Q– What was your experience with the Indian investigators?

A – The only team I met in early 1990 damaged the seriousness of my work and the media investigation. I met them on a courtesy call. They were in the process of filing a letter-rogatory (LR) in Switzerland. Without an official request from Switzerland, Sweden could not intervene. They gave me a list of names to pursue including the name of Amitabh Bachchan. They also told me they did not trust you entirely because you had refused to link the Bachchans to the kickbacks. During that trip to Sweden, the Indian investigators planted the Bachchan angle on DN. The Bachchan’s took them to court in the UK and won. DN had to apologise and they said the story had come from Indian investigators. I was disappointed with the role of many senior journalists and politicians during that period. They muddied the waters.

After the LR was lodged in Switzerland, I was waiting for the official track with India and Switzerland to begin. It never did. Whenever the public prosecutor Ekblom and I heard of any Indian visits to Stockholm, we would speak to the media expressing our desire to meet them. Can you imagine a situation where no one from India met the real investigators of the gun deal? That was when we saw the extent to which everyone was compromised. Many politicians who had come to my office claiming they would move heaven and earth to get at the truth if they came to power, fell silent when they held very important positions directly linked to the deal.

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=18253
The army, it appears, had to accept these duds for several years. Documents accessed by DNA show that the trucks “no longer met the operational requirements of the Indian Army”.

In fact, an order for 600 Tatra trucks is still pending with the army headquarters after General VK Singh refused to authorise the purchase following a “bribe offer of Rs14 crore”.

At present, the CBI is investigating the roles of its top bosses in connection with the sale of Tatra trucks

What prevented Antony from ensuring that trucks, conforming to the new parameters, were inducted in the army? The defence minister is probably the best person to give an answer. But had he done so, the Indian Army would have had a strong and modern transport system.

How bad can things get? This is really shameful! Are the posters of BRF the only patriots left?

New Delhi: Twelve Italian-made helicopters to fly the President, Prime Minister and other important dignitaries will arrive in India next month, with the Defence Ministry deciding not to cancel its deal with Italian company Finmenicca.

The Rs. 4,000-crore deal for AW-101 Augustawestland helicopters was under a cloud because of allegations of bribery and wrongdoing against the company. The Indian government decided to go ahead with the purchase after an internal inquiry and after the Indian Embassy in Rome was unable to substantiate any wrongdoing in the helicopter deal, sources said.

The sources told NDTV that the ministry's inquiry has revealed that although the then NDA government had, between 2002 and 2004, changed specifications and requirements, there was no "wrongdoing" or "malafide" established.

The Air Force had initially asked for choppers that could fly at about 18,000 feet. However, the then Government soon realised that only one manufacturer made helicopters that could fly to 18,000 ft. Also, it was decided, that VVIPs would rarely need to fly at such heights. And if they did, they could use other transport.

After several rounds of consultations, in which then Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra also participated, the requirement was scaled down to helicopters that flew at 13,500 feet.

"Even with the changed specifications, the Indian Air Force can fly VVIPs to locations above Leh, the capital of Ladakh," a senior official told NDTV.

Italian manufacturer Finmeccanica, a company owned by the Italian Government, was contracted for the helicopters in 2010. In 2011, allegations of bribery and wrongdoing surfaced in Italy against the company. The Italian Government is investigating these allegations.

The Indian government, sources said, had asked the Indian Embassy in Rome to monitor the investigations in Italy to check if there was anything related to the Indian purchase. The embassy, sources said, had reported that it had not found anything to suggest that the sale of AW-101 helicopters to India was rigged.

Defence Minister A K Antony was briefed about the reasons for the change in requirements and also that there was no material evidence to support allegations of bribery in this deal, sources said.

Sources told NDTV that Mr Antony was advised that since the deal was initiated by the BJP-led NDA government, the contract could be cancelled even at this late a stage. But the minister refused to cancel the deal.

Last week, the Defence Ministry told Parliament that an "integrity clause" - which prohibits the manufacturer from paying commission or using middlemen - had been built into the contract. This will allow India to take action against the company if allegations of wrongdoing are proved at any time.

Govt clears Rs. 4000-crore deal to buy Italian helicopters for VVIPs



This sure got cleared fast. Such alacrity by Antony in the middle of the Parliament session, without any serious investigation?

Rome: Italian police on Tuesday arrested the chief executive of aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica for corruption and embezzlement in relation to alleged bribes given to the Indian government, Italian media reported.

Giuseppe Orsi had been under investigation for months and had denied any wrongdoing in the deal for the sale of 12 AgustaWestland helicopters to India in 2010.

Prosecutors in various Italian cities have been investigating Finmeccanica for three years on suspicion it engaged in corrupt activities to win contracts in Latin America, Asia and at home.

In October 2012, the probe was widened to include the contract with India, reports from Italy had said.

Two suspected intermediaries in the bribes who reside in Switzerland have also been targeted with extradition requests, the reports said. Finmeccanica is not the only Italian industrial giant under investigation.

Prosecutors last week announced they were also looking at Paolo Scaroni, chief executive of energy major ENI, over allegations of bribes paid to Algerian officials to win contracts there.

Finmeccanica's Rs. 4,000-crore deal in India was under a cloud because of allegations of bribery and wrongdoing against the company. But the Indian government decided to go ahead with the purchase after an internal inquiry and after the Indian Embassy in Rome was unable to substantiate any wrongdoing in the helicopter deal, sources said.

The first of these Italian-made helicopters have already arrived in India. These choppers are meant to fly the President, Prime Minister and other important dignitaries.

The sources told NDTV that the ministry's inquiry has revealed that although the then NDA government had, between 2002 and 2004, changed specifications and requirements, there was no "wrongdoing" or "malafide" established.

The Air Force had initially asked for choppers that could fly at about 18,000 feet. However, the then government soon realised that only one manufacturer made helicopters that could fly to 18,000 ft. Also, it was decided, that VVIPs would rarely need to fly at such heights. And if they did, they could use other transport.

After several rounds of consultations, in which then Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra also participated, the requirement was scaled down to helicopters that flew at 13,500 feet.

Italian manufacturer Finmeccanica, a company owned by the Italian Government, was contracted for the helicopters in 2010. In 2011, allegations of bribery and wrongdoing surfaced in Italy against the company.

The Indian government, sources said, had asked the Indian Embassy in Rome to monitor the investigations in Italy to check if there was anything related to the Indian purchase. The embassy, sources said, had reported that it had not found anything to suggest that the sale of AW-101 helicopters to India was rigged.

The alleged middlemen in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal bragged that even if Indian investigators probed their role, they would find no money trail as the payments were made in cash, and that they would not be able to identify Sanjeev Kumar Tyagi as the person behind the affair, taped conversations that are part of an Italian judicial report reveal.

In a conversation between business partners Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, the name of Tyagi — a Delhi-based businessman who is also known as Julie — comes up as the duo talk about payments being made in cash for the 2010 deal to procure 12 VVIP helicopters, and brag that Indian prosecutors would never be able to prove the corruption.

A part of the 568-page report records Gerosa as saying that "the only one who is safe from judicial consequence is Julie as they (Indian investigators) are morons and that there is no link".

Tyagi, who claims to be a former Air Force officer but was not actually commissioned into the Force, is a Delhi-based consultant with an office in the city's upmarket Ferozeshah Road area. He is believed to be active in the government sector, particularly power.

I don't know how many remember my words on the VVIP helo deal,where we bought 12 A-101's at a far greater price than was offered to the USMC for Obama's use.I said it would explode one day like Bofors,perhaps even worse and it has.

NEW DELHI: What has Carlo Gerosa, business partner of controversial arms agent Guido Haschke, got to do with a small women's charity in Andhra Pradesh run by catholic nuns?

Haschke is at the centre of Finmeccanica scandal. Based on wiretaps of his phone conversations, Italian prosecutors allege he was paid 51 million Euros as a kickback for helping Agusta Westland clinch the 3,600 crore deal to sell 12 helicopters to Indian Air Force. Conversations between Haschke and Gerosa form a key part of court documents.

Haschke and Gerosa are directors and authorised signatories of Aeromatrix Info Solutions, a Delhi-based company registered at an address in the upscale Defence Colony neighbourhood. Aeromatrix is majority owned by Mauritius-registered Infotech Design Systems Ltd. Others who own shares in the company are Gautam Khaitan (17.32) and Arihant Jain (0.02%), according to regulatory filings with the registrar of companies. Khaitan is managing partner and Jain is junior partner at the law firm OP Khaitan & Co, according to the company website.

Haschke served as a director in Emaar MGF Land Ltd for three months between September and December 2009.

But Gerosa's connections in India are more widespread. He served as a director in Narbheram Power and Steel Pvt Ltd between May 2006 and July 2007. Narbheram is part of the Kolkata-based Atha Group, which has interests in mining and power. He also served as a director of Arbor Charitable Foundation from August 2008 till March 2010, a month after the deal was signed.

According to Sister Daisy (Athickal Annakutty John), who is a director and signatory of the foundation, Arbor helps rural women in Andhra and encourages them to save through its various schemes. "An Italian gentleman called Dominiqo, who is based in Switzerland, approached the Bishop of Khammam (Rev. Paul Maipan) in 2006, saying he wants to help rural women in Andhra Pradesh. The Bishop asked me and Sister Moly (Pazhayamatathil Moly Mathew) to work with them," Sister Daisy told ET on the phone.

She said the money for the charity's functioning-it has a corpus of 4 crore currently-comes from Switzerland. She said she didn't know the full name of Dominiquo. Arbor's India head, according to the nun, was one Luca Streri. "Gerosa was only a nominee of Dominiquo," she said. Arbor's registered office is in Malviya Nagar in Delhi. Board meetings used to happen in Delhi, the 72-year-old nun said, adding that Arbor has an office in Italy, apart from the headquarters in Switzerland. She says she never met Gerosa.

The United States Marine Corps was planning to order three of these choppers to replace the two that currently serve as Marine One (i.e., the Presidential helicopter). However, with a price tag of $21 million each, and with the economy the way it is, President Obama pulled the plug on the order. In any case, if you didn’t know any better, you’d probably assume this photo of the AW101′s cabin was actually a photo of a private jet cabin, because that’s how big and luxurious it is. But the size of this chopper doesn’t slow it down. The top speed is 192 mph, and the range is an impressive 863 miles. So this really is the only helicopter I would purchase.