New Delhi, Mar 30: Nearly a week after Army Chief General V.K. Singh's disclosure that he was offered a bribe by an equipment lobbyist, the CBI on Friday not only registered an FIR but also conducted searches at four places in Delhi, Noida and Bangalore.
CBI sources said the probe would look into purchases of Tatra trucks from 1997 onwards.
Ravi Rishi, a British national, and owner of Vectra Group, who is here for the ongoing Defence Expo, was called by the CBI officials to the agency's headquarters for questioning.
Since 1986, Army has purchased some 7000 Tatra trucks to transport troops and artillery.
The Army Chief had alleged that the trucks were overpriced and substandard. The General had alleged that the lobbyist had offered him the bribe of Rs. 14 crore to clear a tranche of 600 sub-standard vehicles for purchase.
Later in the day, CBI received a written complaint from the Army Chief wherein he has confirmed the offer of bribe made to him. CBI sources said the General has said that he would furnish more details soon. His reply also does not mention any bribe amount, the sources said.
CBI sources said the agency had received the reference from Defence Ministry on March 26 itself regarding allegations made by the Army Chief which mainly contained the copy of report and the interview of the Army Chief published that day.
The sources said the agency was not in possession of any audio tape, purported to contain conversation about offer of a bribe to the Army Chief.
Even as the CBI started searches, the Defence Ministry said that a day after receiving a letter from Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on October 5, 2009, forwarding the complaint of Dr. D. Hanumanthappa, addressed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister A. K. Antony had asked the Secretary (Defence Production) to look into various issues raised in the complaint.
It is learnt that the complaint had said that Vectra in London was serving as a middleman who was in violation of guidelines as the equipment for the Army is meant to be bought directly from the manufacturer and not through a middleman.
“Records show that the vigilance wings of Ministry of Defence and BEML were examining the matter and there are also correspondence between the CBI and Chief Vigilance Officer of BEML on these allegations,'' the statement issued by Defence Ministry said.
Digging out its records, the Ministry claimed that the Defence Minister had accorded his sanction for a CBI investigation on February 21, 2012, much before the sensational revelation of the Army Chief made to this newspaper which also rocked Parliament with the opposition gunning for the UPA government.
Meanwhile, responding to alleged involvement of agents and lobbyists in placement of orders for the Tatra trucks, BEML chief V.R.S. Natarajan said today that over the past 26 years, from 1986 onwards, BEML had assembled, manufactured, supplied 7,000 Tatra trucks.
“All of them have been done on single nomination basis, single inquiry basis. This type of equipment nobody in the world makes, because of its superior technological features. When I am the single vendor and there is no competition, there is no influence required,'' he said.
Countering allegations about pricing of Tatra trucks, BEML chief said these trucks had “flexible axle” as compared to those with “fixed axle'' and were technologically superior with features like air cooled engines.
He said that in recent field trials by Army fixed axle trucks which had missiles mounted on them had got stuck in the desert and the Army had to seek the services of Tatra trucks to pull them out. However, he did not name the manufacturer of “fixed axle'' trucks but indicated that Army had relaxed qualitative requirements in this case.
CBI sources said the probe would look into purchases of Tatra trucks from 1997 onwards.
Ravi Rishi, a British national, and owner of Vectra Group, who is here for the ongoing Defence Expo, was called by the CBI officials to the agency's headquarters for questioning.
Since 1986, Army has purchased some 7000 Tatra trucks to transport troops and artillery.
The Army Chief had alleged that the trucks were overpriced and substandard. The General had alleged that the lobbyist had offered him the bribe of Rs. 14 crore to clear a tranche of 600 sub-standard vehicles for purchase.
Later in the day, CBI received a written complaint from the Army Chief wherein he has confirmed the offer of bribe made to him. CBI sources said the General has said that he would furnish more details soon. His reply also does not mention any bribe amount, the sources said.
CBI sources said the agency had received the reference from Defence Ministry on March 26 itself regarding allegations made by the Army Chief which mainly contained the copy of report and the interview of the Army Chief published that day.
The sources said the agency was not in possession of any audio tape, purported to contain conversation about offer of a bribe to the Army Chief.
Even as the CBI started searches, the Defence Ministry said that a day after receiving a letter from Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on October 5, 2009, forwarding the complaint of Dr. D. Hanumanthappa, addressed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister A. K. Antony had asked the Secretary (Defence Production) to look into various issues raised in the complaint.
It is learnt that the complaint had said that Vectra in London was serving as a middleman who was in violation of guidelines as the equipment for the Army is meant to be bought directly from the manufacturer and not through a middleman.
“Records show that the vigilance wings of Ministry of Defence and BEML were examining the matter and there are also correspondence between the CBI and Chief Vigilance Officer of BEML on these allegations,'' the statement issued by Defence Ministry said.
Digging out its records, the Ministry claimed that the Defence Minister had accorded his sanction for a CBI investigation on February 21, 2012, much before the sensational revelation of the Army Chief made to this newspaper which also rocked Parliament with the opposition gunning for the UPA government.
Meanwhile, responding to alleged involvement of agents and lobbyists in placement of orders for the Tatra trucks, BEML chief V.R.S. Natarajan said today that over the past 26 years, from 1986 onwards, BEML had assembled, manufactured, supplied 7,000 Tatra trucks.
“All of them have been done on single nomination basis, single inquiry basis. This type of equipment nobody in the world makes, because of its superior technological features. When I am the single vendor and there is no competition, there is no influence required,'' he said.
Countering allegations about pricing of Tatra trucks, BEML chief said these trucks had “flexible axle” as compared to those with “fixed axle'' and were technologically superior with features like air cooled engines.
He said that in recent field trials by Army fixed axle trucks which had missiles mounted on them had got stuck in the desert and the Army had to seek the services of Tatra trucks to pull them out. However, he did not name the manufacturer of “fixed axle'' trucks but indicated that Army had relaxed qualitative requirements in this case.
