Telgi scam an intelligence failure, says Jaswant

The Telgi stamp scam was an illustration of the "intelligence failure" arising out of lack of co-ordination among economic intelligence agencies working under the finance ministry, said Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh.

"Some of these agencies were not reporting even to the finance secretary," Singh said while delivering the 18th endowment lecture for the Intelligence Bureau on the "information, intelligence and security" here today.

This was a part of the series of lectures organised by the IB to discuss facets of intelligence and national security.

Singh referred to the Telgi scam while describing the economic security an essential component in the security scenario.

Referring to scam, he said it was only after a great deal of effort that he knew of the existence of various economic intelligence agencies working under his ministry. But none of these agencies were aware of the scam, he said. It was a matter of concern, he added.

In response to a query whether the finance minister was informed about the fake stamps, Singh said he initiated actions immediately after he came to know about the scam.

But Singh referred to the "bureaucratic handicaps" in dismissing an officer of the Indian security press (ISPs) whose role was doubtful in the whole episode.

Taking cue from Singh's lamentation that the bureaucracy was causing "exasperating delays" in execution of projects, former CBI chief Joginder Singh asked if the finance minister was also helpless in moulding the system.

Singh said he had been facing "limitations" because he had to work under the system. "You cannot throw out the system," he said while the former CBI chief expressed his dis-satisfaction over the reply.

That Singh touched a raw nerve by referring to "turf wars" among intelligence agencies was evident by the posers he got from a another former chief of the Intelligence Bureau who raised doubts about the minister's insistence on "collectively of the intelligence".

In fact, Singh described the Kargil intrusion the "failure of the intelligence agencies" and suggested that the joint intelligence council would be the right body to collate and analyse the information and develop them into "actionable intelligence".

But a former intelligence officer expressed his reservations over Singh's description of "turf wars" among various intelligence agencies.