CBI Rules Out Corruption, kickbacks In Scorpene Submarine Deal

[phanijaladi]

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday told the Delhi High Court that after preliminary investigations it had found no evidence of payment of kickbacks in the Rs.14.35 billion Scorpene submarine deal.

'No case is made out in the deal. Nothing was found about the Scorpene submarine deal kickbacks,' advocate Mukta Gupta contended before a bench comprising Justices T.S. Thakur and Siddharth Mridul. The court then adjourned the case and posted it for July 14 when the CBI report would be opened.

In the previous hearing, the court had rejected French arms company Thales' plea to dismiss a public suit that contended that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) did not pass on all its findings to the CBI. The court said it could not dismiss the petition without going through the action taken report submitted by the CBI.

The public suit was filed in the Delhi High Court by lawyer Prashant Bhushan alleging that the IB, which was initially investigating the matter, did not pass all its findings to the CBI and that there were links between the Scorpene deal and what is termed as the Naval War Room leak case.

It was alleged that one of the accused in the Navy War Room leak case, Abhishek Verma, sent an e-mail to the French manufacturer of the submarine demanding on behalf of a political party four percent commission for brokering the Rs.160 billion deal.The e-mail is in the IB's possession, the public suit says.

Various government agencies, including the IB, were involved in investigating the Navy War Room leak. In February 2006, the authorities decided to hand over the case to the CBI for initiating criminal proceedings against the naval officers and civilians allegedly involved.Retired navy officers Ravi Shankaran and Kulbhushan Parashar, and also Verma, are accused of involvement in the alleged leak of sensitive information from the Navy War Room here.

The leaked data allegedly pertained to the navy's procurement plans, including its sensitive submarine acquisition programme.The CBI is yet to zero in on prime accused Shankaran, who is believed to be hiding in Europe. Shankaran is a nephew of former Indian Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash.

http://www.india-defence.com/reports-3845

[ajay_ijn]

So CBI should delay every single deal, make military suffer untill they are sure that Babus did not accept bribes.

[JD]

French Firm Cleared Over Indian Sub Deal

NEW DELHI - Indian detectives have found no evidence to support allegations of bribery surrounding a deal with a French defense firm to buy Scorpene submarines, an official said July 17.

The Delhi High Court had last year ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into claims that kickbacks were involved in the 2.4 billion euro deal.

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But the CBI has asked the court to close the case because it could not find evidence of bribery, a CBI official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"All angles of the case had been examined, and we found no evidence of wrongdoing," the CBI official said.

In October 2005 India signed contracts worth 2.4 billion euros ($3.8 billion) with Armaris, which is owned by France's Thales, and European defense firm MBDA to buy six of the Franco-Spanish submarines.

The deal is a technology transfer agreement.

The submarines will be assembled in India, but French naval group Direction des Compagnies Navales (DCN) will produce various key parts requiring equipment that is unavailable in Indian shipyards.

An Indian pressure group and the main opposition party alleged New Delhi was shielding Indian middlemen who took commissions from French defense giant Thales to clinch the deal.

Thales and the French government denied the allegations.

Earlier this year, India scrapped a $600 million deal to buy 197 military helicopters from the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) after allegations of corruption in the bidding process.

India banned middlemen in military deals after charges of bribery in a multi-billion-dollar artillery deal in the 1980s with Swedish firm Bofors.

That scandal led to the downfall of prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's government in 1989. The slain leader's Congress party, which today heads the government - is now led by his widow, Sonia.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3632202&c=ASI&s=TOP