CVC says tapes have new list of arms dealers

CVC says tapes have new list of arms dealers
RITU SARIN

NEW DELHI, MARCH 14: The Tehelka tapes have come at a time when the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is working on the final report on defence deals, an outcome of an inquiry ordered by Defence Minister George Fernandes on August 7 last year.

Nothing much was expected to come out of the omnibus probe and it was no surprise that nothing did. Soon after the inquiry was ordered, the Defence Ministry forwarded a list of 380 defence deals signed since the ban on defence agents was imposed by the Rajiv Government on April 14, 1989.

It was just a few months ago that the CVC gave the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) its first real window of opportunity in the inquiry. The CVC had sent the CBI a shortlist of around six or seven defence personnel (most of whom retired recently) about whose complicity in defence deals they had information on. The CBI was asked to look into the disproportionate assets of the personnel but Central Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal says the result was very disappointing.

``The CBI mostly gave a clean chit to the retired personnel. It was almost as if they were being blessed by the CBI,'' he said, adding, ``We have some of our own findings which we are compiling for the final report. Now the findings of the Tehelka team have come as a gold mine for us. Our final report will not be worth the paper it is printed on if these findings are not also looked into by us.''

Vigilance Commissioner V N Mathur endorses his view. ``We will get a good focus for our report from the allegations made in the transcripts and newspapers today. The allegations are very serious and we will definitely be looking into the evidential value of the transcripts before finalising our own report on defence deals.

Significantly, Mathur says the Tehelka tapes have brought to the fore an entire new list of persons involved in arms deals, both inside and outside the Defence Ministry. ``These (the persons named by Tehelka) are not the same persons whose conduct and antecedents we had inquired into. It is an entirely new list of people and this is a big revelation for us. The information contained in the transcripts is very sensitive and exciting.''

Therefore, instead of regretting the fact that their own inquiry into defence deals came to naught, the CVC bosses appear to be happy for the latest breakthrough.

After a series of meetings between CVC, CBI and MoD officials, it had been decided to have Rs 75 crore as the cut-off price for a defence deal which would be looked into. Since the MoD had a single-file system, boxes after boxes of original files were ferried from the Ministry to the CVC.

Some important files were found to be missing, and Vittal says it was only after several reminders and reports in the media that the MoD ``discovered'' the files in a cupboard in a barrack which hadn't been opened for nine long years! Another document that was eluding the CVC was a copy of the report prepared by former Minister of State for Defence Arun Singh, a part of which was eventually submitted to them in May last year.

The CVC's inquiry has progressed in fits and starts. Vittal says they adopted a three-pronged approach in probing defence procurement -- the allegations made by former MP Jayant Malhoutra, the allegations made by Rear Admiral S V Purohit and all defence deals signed after the 1989 ban and which were worth more than Rs 75 crore were to be inquired into.

On August 7 last year, the CVC submitted an interim report to the MoD, but both Vittal and Mathur said they would not discuss its contents. However, it is understood that besides making sweeping recommendations on how the entire arms procurement business could be made foolproof, the CVC had also called for a ``review'' of the ban on defence agents in view of the fact that they were told by several experts that defence agents still had a free run of the MoD.