It is raining scams

Shiban Khaibri
Each one of us loving India must be feeling disappointed and disconsolate at watching helplessly the phenomenon of raining of scams in one form or the other, day in and day out in our country. Those ones which get exposed only get surfaced and known, but what about those expectedly innumerable ones, which get shrouded in hush – hush anonymity? The freedom fighters who sacrificed every thing for this country to see her free from foreign rule and exploitation, had firmly expected that the malaise like looting the country by indulging in briberies, kickbacks and scams would have no place or quarter in any sphere of our polity whatsoever after we got freedom, have been belied by the perpetrators, each time a scam occurs, a bribe is paid, a defalcation or a fraud is committed, a kickback is received and the like. A scam taking place in respect of defence deal involving purchasing of 12 helicopters for the VVIPs from an Anglo – Italian company Augusta Westland has unraveled prima – facie, shoddy deals and a wider nexus operating in respect of defence equipment purchases. Various links, inter connected, reportedly from London, Mauritius, Switzerland, Italy and of course our own country are said to be in the form of a big arms middlemen syndicate operating which has potential to cast shadows not only on the deals like under reference but on others too. For the last more than 10 days, we are witnessing newer and latest twists and stories getting into focus of the massive kickbacks paid in the said deal.
A leading TV Channel of the country put forth the information about the said defence deal followed by an MP of the main opposition party in 2012 itself but apparently no heed was paid to it so much so to the extent of virtually giving the supplier company a clean chit. The apprehensions that perhaps there might have been pressure from certain quarters to close the chopper scam file without even a basic enquiry instituted, in 2012 itself, cannot be brushed aside as a mere speculation. Has the ghost of 1987 scam revisited our country as till the writing of these lines, it is reported that even an elementary FIR has not been registered and the suspects of the recipients of the kickbacks at home not interrogated and grilled to know fuller details of the extent of the scam. The belated statement of the Prime Minister that “the Government was ready to discuss the matter in Parliament” or Union Minister Kamal Nath saying that ” We are not averse to a JPC probe ” cannot absolve the Government of its responsibility in the occurrence of recurring scams.
It is again ironical that somehow the government wants to pass on the buck and curiously bring in the name of the Late Brajesh Mishra, the National Security Advisor in the NDA rule as he had recommended a change in the specifications of the chopper purchase by suggesting lowering of the altitude heights to enable other vendors to enter the sale options. The fact that when any successive government can alter, modify or out rightly reject the decisions of the previous government, what prevented the UPA dispensation from canceling the purchase and not sign the agreement in 2010 with Agusta Westland ? The crux of the issue is to name and shame the recipients of the kickbacks as the reprehensible act is no less than selling the nation. How long can we put up with the scams?
The question again haunts that when information about the deal is freely available to media persons and the same is shared with the people regularly by them, why cannot the government access the same and go in very severely against these persons, firms and agencies? There are collateral questions too linked with the start of the type of chopper decided to purchase and that is while reportedly America showed its reluctance to buy such choppers because of the high price factor, why India decided to purchase them? Are we more affluent than the developed nation of USA or VVIPs of that country are less vulnerable than their Indian counterparts? Many leaders of the ruling party on many occasions have openly been critical of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for his undaunted resolve to guard and protect the money of this country, despite that he had done his job as reportedly he had opined that such expensive choppers were not needed at all in India. We are still clueless as to where from to start the investigations as Italy instituted fast probe, prepared charges of graft payment and put behind the bars the CEO of the company. Payment of as high as 8.50% to 10% commission by the company and a whooping amount of Rs.470 crores allegedly paid as the first installment along with all the facts of the case need not only a CBI enquiry as ordered by the Defence Minister following tremendous exposure by the media, very rigorously pursued legal suit by the Italian government against the suspects of the shoddy transactions and the immense heat feared to face in the Budget session of the Parliament , but a high powered SIT sponsored by the Honb’le Supreme Court of India.
As a face saving attempt, the Defence Minister A. K. Antony ordered the scraping of the chopper deal .The fall out of this hurriedly taken decision is implied disapproving of the decision by the Prime Minister as his reaction, the first one after so many days of its boiling not only in Italy, Geneva and Delhi but even in UK is “the government is ready to reply any question , as there is nothing to hide in the matter.” It is the UK based Agusta Westland with which the deal was struck and the British Prime Minister David Cameron in a joint press conference with PM Manmohan Singh in Delhi recently gave an assurance from his government to provide all help in investigating this scam. It was in response to India conveying its “serious concern” over unethical practices (of bribes and kickbacks) employed to secure Rs. 3546 crore chopper deal. Strangely enough, while MOD has terminated the deal reportedly without taking cabinet acquiesce, the PM made it clear that “We have sought explanation from the company by Feb22 to see whether integrity pact was violated”. The main suspect Haschke reportedly has gone into hiding, Tyagi brothers the suspects, Abhishek Verma, Gautam Khaitan and many others’ names have surfaced which need to be probed to ascertain the truth. The probe must be quick, pointed but exhaustive and suspects dealt with harshly under the law of the land.
The old saying goes that there can be no smoke without fire. Personal honesty of A. K. Antony though not contested, is not sufficient in the circumstances and he must recall how many irregularities during his tenure took place , be it Sukhna Cantonment land scandal, Aadarsh Housing Society scandal, malpractices in supplying of rations to troops positioned at high altitudes, Tatra truck scam, and the like and his sitting on the case for full 11 months even after getting various inputs suggesting of a deep nexus of middlemen, scam- esters, politicians, relatives of VIPs in the matter must raise eyebrows.
Our politicians and decision makers fully know our vulnerability vis-à-vis our two hostile neighbors who jointly and severally are our adversaries to the hilt, how under these pressing security considerations we shall continue to starve our forces for the most modern defence equipment and weaponry because we are incapable of and cannot take head on those persons, middlemen and influential politicians or their relatives who manage to get into the nitty gritty of these defence deals and somehow manage get kickbacks? Modernization of our armed forces is a top national priority and seen in that context, the Agusta Westland chopper scam needs to be thoroughly probed but with quick results to attempt to wash the muck on the supposed probity of all the arms deals. It may be emphasized that the scam under reference is not merely a chopper-gate but an arms-gate.

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