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Wednesday, Oct 11, 2006
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Defence middlemen, agents searched by CBI

Special Correspondent

CBI registered three preliminary enquiries, referred five matters to MoD for appropriate departmental action

NEW DELHI: In the 14 defence deals, which figured in the Tehelka tapes, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered three preliminary enquiries and referred five matters to the Ministry of Defence for appropriate departmental action. One of the preliminary enquiries related to procurement of Barak missiles. This has now been converted into a regular case, relating to which nation-wide searches were conducted by the CBI on Tuesday.

In another matter pertaining to procurement of Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARVs), a regular case has been registered and searches were conducted. Another deal, in which a case has been registered, relates to Terminally Guided Ammunition (TGMs), Krasnopol, which figures in the C&AG report too. The four deals — ARVs, AMRs from M/s Denel, Krasnopol and Barak missiles — were worth Rs. 1800 crore.

In searches conducted in 35 places in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chandigarh, the CBI expanded its net to take in six defence middlemen and agents — Mahendrapal Singh Sahni, also honorary consul-general of the Bahamas, Vipin Khanna, Suresh Nanda, Sudhir Chaudhary, Maj. S.J. Singh and Lt. Col. V.K. Berry, both retired.

The agency made a haul of Rs. 1.74 crore of unaccounted cash from three different places in the capital. Highly placed CBI sources said that it was for the first time that well-connected defence agents who have managed to take favours during all regimes at the Centre were raided by the agency.

One of the main middlemen in the Barak missiles case also figured as an accused in the case registered relating to procurement of ARVs along with R.K. Jain, the then national treasurer of the Samata Party.

The lowest offer of M/s PSB Bohemia, which was also technically suitable, was dishonestly ignored at the behest of the middleman and the contract was awarded to two other companies on the pretext of promoting indigenous production of ARVs.

The CBI alleged that Rs. one crore was paid for the Rs. 300 crore deal by the middlemen through the said national treasurer of the political party. The deal related to the supply of 87 ARVs to the Ministry of Defence in which a wrongful loss of Rs. 51.83 crore was caused to the government exchequer.

In the TGMs-Krasnopol case, a retired major and a middleman, who was a sub-agent of another agent, has claimed in the Tehelka tapes to have acted on behalf of the Russian supplier M/s KBP Design Bureau, TULA and was successful in clinching this deal which was worth Rs. 150 crore. The Defence Procurement Procedure, 1992 was violated on several counts, the agency alleged. An agreement for trials with the firm was entered into even before the publication of General Staff Quality Requirements and issuance of Request for Proposal. The contract was signed despite the TGMs failing in most of the tests, the CBI claimed.

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