Defence Minister A K Antony has turned the tables on the Army chief bribery controversy,telling Rajya Sabha today that General V K Singh did not want to pursue the matter in spite of being asked to do so. ''God knows why,'' he told Rajya Sabha. Making a suo motu statement in the Upper House,Antony responded to questions on why he did not act on the allegation then. ''I didn't get a complaint from the Army chief in writing,'' he told the Upper House. Tell us: Shouldn't the Army chief bribery issue play out behind closed doors? Army chief V K Singh has opened another front with the government by claiming a former officer had offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore to clear a contract for 600 heavy vehicles. Antony yesterday ordered a CBI inquiry to probe this claim. Recalling the incident,the minister said the Army chief had told him retired general Tejinder Singh met him and offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore. "I was shocked. It took me one to two minutes to regain composure. I told him to take action but he did not want to pursue it. I don't know why he did not want to pursue it at that time," Antony said. "I acted on my judgement. If I am wrong,you may punish me. I think I have done my best," he said. He assured the House that action would be taken against the guilty,however powerful they may be. "I will take action,nobody will be spared. If anybody is found guilty,whoever he is,however powerful he may be,I will take action," Antony said. The minister said in the past he has taken action even on anonymous complaints. The trust deficit between the Army chief and the Defence Minister has widened over the bribery issue. After Antony's statement in Rajya Sabha,BJP leader Arun Jaitley was heard saying matters that can be solved behind closed doors were unnecessarily becoming topics of public debates. Admitting he "could have acted" when General Singh told him about the bribe offer,Antony said: ''As a minister,I cannot act just on a complaint. I did not get any written complaint at any stage." Antony,who at the outset said,"I will say the truth,nothing but truth" repeated at this stage: "I am telling you the truth as it happened." The minister said when he read about the allegations in a newspaper yesterday,he immediately told the Defence Secretary to take action without waiting for a formal complaint. "This was the action I took," he said. The CBI has been ordered to comprehensively probe the allegation. "CBI will inquire into everything," Antony said. The minister also said he does not ignore even an anonymous complaint. "I am very clear. That is my approach. it is my priority. If a written complaint,even if anonymous,was received,I used to forward it for inquiry," he said. Leader of the Opposition Jaitley said the Opposition did not question the minister's integrity but questioned why neither Antony nor the Army chief took any action on the development that took place in September last. "Is this an issue on which both of them should have put blinkers on their eyes and not inquired into the matter at all," Jaitley asked,even though it was conveyed to Antony orally. Jaitley,joined by some other members,said the Opposition was with Antony if he wanted to "cleanse" the system. The minister was,however,asked to maintain a judicious balance. In a report that appeared in The Hindu on Monday,Singh had said he went straight to Antony and informed him about the bribe offer. ''I told him,if you think Im a misfit,I will walk out,'' the paper quoted Singh as saying. General Singh was apparently approached on September 22,2010. In the Rajya Sabha,Opposition members including Jaitley insisted that defence preparedness in the country should not suffer due to "over-obsession" with probity. Antony said it was a "serious challenge" to tighten the system as well as ensure that procurement is not affected. The minister said he was discussing the matter,including expediting procurement,with serving chiefs and officials of the ministry. Noting major countries like US,Russia,Israel,UK,Germany,France and South Korea were eyeing the Indian market,the minister said a series of complaints are usually lodged by the ones which fail to bag contracts. "My problem is that I cannot ignore any complaint. That is why it delays procurement," he said,adding,"In spite of these,procurement is not bad. Last year it was 100 per cent." Antony said he preferred cancelling even major procurement deals on the issue of probity even though it invited criticism from his colleagues. He said soon after he had taken over as Defence Minister,he made it clear he won't tolerate any corruption and would go to the extent of cancelling contracts if any corruption surfaced in the procurement. Antony said the party leadership wanted him in the job as the Defence Ministry was "tough" and "controversial". Enunciating steps taken by him against corruption,he said this was the first time in the history of India that such a large number of CBI probes were ordered in matters related to defence. Recalling he had recommended action in the Adarsh scam in Mumbai,the airport land scam in Srinagar and cancelled helicopter deals,Antony said his "track record" showed he has fought for "probity in public life" throughout his political career. He also told the House he had once resigned as Kerala chief minister following corruption allegations. Expressing concern over recent controversies dogging the forces,Arun Jaitley said: "Over the last few months facts which have been coming out in public domain are indeed disturbing. issues,which should be settled behind closed doors are now becoming a matter of unnecessary public debates." He said it was for the minister to differentiate between a substantial and a frivolous allegation. Maintaining that defence preparedeness and modernisation plans should not suffer and that there was a need for judicious balance,Jaitley said,"We have to have probity but not to be over-obsessed with it. we are completely with you if you want to cleanse up." His party colleague S S Ahluwalia sought to know the terms of reference of the CBI probe that the minister has ordered. "There is no doubt about the honesty and integrity of Antony. I recognise that," he added. T K Rangarajan (CPI-M) also asked why the minister did not pursue the matter himself after the Army chief brought it to his notice. "Why did he take the General's statement so casually," he asked. In another interview given to the Hindi weekly newspaper Chauthi Duniya,General V K Singh has said the bribe was offered to approve a case to procure trucks for the Army. While General Singh did not name the retired army officer who allegedly approached him,Army Headquaters had alleged recently that former Director General of Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA),Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh,had offered bribes on behalf of Tatra,which is the original equipment manufacturer of the trucks,and Vectra,that holds a stake in the company. ''One of the men had the gumption to walk up to me and tell me that if I cleared the tranche,he would give me Rs 14 crore. He was offering a bribe to me,to the Army chief. He told me that people had taken money before me and they will take money after me, General Singh told Chauthi Duniya.
