The divide between Chief of Army Staff V K Singh and his predecessor, Deepak Kapoor, deepened as the latter on Tuesday said he had received no complaint from any level in the Army about the performance of the Tatra trucks. The now-controversial vehicles were made from CKD kits manufactured by Tatra Sipox and BEML Ltd.
Gen Kapoor, speaking to Business Standard, said he did not receive any complaints about Tatra from any of the departments till the time he left the Army two years ago. “Since all the issues are not brought before the Army Chief, it is also possible that these complaints were addressed at the level of additional director general or the director-generals concerned,” he added.
Gen Singh, who succeeded him as the Army Chief, has consistently been against the purchase of Tatra trucks that were first inducted into the force in 1987. It was during Gen Singh’s tenure that the defence ministry, for the first time, issued global tenders for the purchase of all-weather trucks. Tatra Sipox is a UK-based subsidiary of the Tatra AS in the Czech Republic.
On its part, BEML is preparing a presentation before the defence ministry to take part in the next tranche of the procurement process of trucks for the forces. V R S Natarajan, chairman and managing director of the Bangalore-based defence PSU, hopes that the company too would get a chance to give its proposal, as BEML has also submitted a request for proposal.
Natarajan says he was not interrogated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has been probing alleged irregularities in the Tatra truck sale to the Indian Army. Reacting to news reports in a section of the media, he told this newspaper that he did not want to be part of the controversy. “I have already made our (BEML’s) stand clear in the truck sale deal,” he recalled. “As of now, I have not been questioned by the CBI in this case.”
According to television news reports, the CBI was likely to seek permission from the government to question the BEML chief. Yesterday, the central investigating agency had interrogated Vectra Group chief Ravinder Rishi.
CBI questions Rishi again
The CBI has registered a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy against 57-year-old Rishi along with unnamed officials of defence ministry, Indian Army and public sector enterprise BEML. He was questioned regarding certain “procedural lapses” that took place in the supplying of Tatra trucks to BEML, besides the ownership pattern of Tatra Sipox which he created in Richmond, Surrey.
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The agency is now likely to summon Natarajan for questioning shortly. It is investigating the matter from 1997 onwards, when the deal between BEML and Tatra was struck for the first time. The CBI is collating a list of officials involved in taking decisions regarding such deals ever since. Very soon, it will be quizzing some of the serving as well as retired officials of the defence ministry.
The investigative agency is also going to seek assistance from defence ministry officials and officials of its vigilance wing to understand the technical and procedural aspects of the case.
The CBI has alleged that BEML entered into a criminal conspiracy with Tatra Sipox, which had a similar name to a Czech company Tatra AS and manufactured military trucks. The CBI, in its FIR, has said that “The agreement signed earlier with a Foreign Trade Corporation of Czechoslovakia for military vehicles was fraudulently assigned to the said UK-based company by showing it as the original OEM/fully-owned subsidiary of the Czech company.”
The agency has further alleged that in this manner, vehicles worth over thousands of crores of rupees have been supplied to Indian Army, causing undue benefit to Tatra, BEML and defence ministry officials.