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This is from today's India Ink, New York Times (26 03 2012). March 26, 2012, 1:45 PM India’s Top Army Official Alleges Corruption in Deals By HARI KUMAR Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Indian Army Chief Vijay Kumar Singh addresses journalists on Army Day in New Delhi in this Jan. 15, 2012 file photo. The Indian Army’s top official has alleged that he was offered a bribe by a lobbyist selling vehicles to the military, raising new questions about how defense contracts are handled by India, the world’s top arms buyer. “Just imagine, one of these 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,” or 140 million rupees (about $2.8 million), General Vijay Kumar Singh told The Hindu newspaper. “He was offering the 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, the chief of India’s 1.3-million-person-strong army, has been at the center of controversy for months. A dispute about whether he was actually born in 1950 or 1951 was ultimately decided by India’s Supreme Court last month. He had taken the government to court after arguing that his birthday was improperly recorded in army records, a mistake that he attributed to his refusal to participate in corruption. The Supreme Court decided against General Singh by declaring his official birth date as 1950, which means he will have to retire this May because of age limits. In Monday’s interview, General Singh said that when the bribe incident occurred, he went straight to Defense Minister A. K. Antony, who told him, “Keep away from such people.” On Monday, Mr. Antony said only, “This is a serious allegation.” The Press Trust of India, a news agency, reported that the government had ordered an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation, India’s top anti-corruption agency. The private news channel NDTV said the officer who offered the bribe was Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh, who served as chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He has denied the charge. NDTV reported that General Tejinder Singh was working for a Czech heavy machinery company called Tatra, which supplies vehicles to the army. Earlier this month, the Defense Ministry, in a written reply to the Parliament, said, “No irregularities in purchase of components of the Tatra trucks for army have been reported.” Senior retired army officials questioned General Singh’s motives on Monday, wondering why he would air corruption allegations just two months before his retirement. Ashok K. Mehta, a retired major general, said in an interview, “It appears to me that a drowning man is trying to clutch the straw. Parliament is in session, he has only two months to retire, why he is giving all these interviews? He should have taken action.” Major general Mehta added, “To say that there is no corruption in the army is not true, but there is less corruption in comparison to other departments. _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
