Congress scam in Defence Deal

NDA demands probe and
scrapping of Scorpene deal
From Our Special Correspondent

The latest addition to the series of scams and scandals that commenced with the coming into power of Congress-led NDA is the Scorpene submarine deal that has put the Rs. 64-crore Bofors scandal to shame. This comes on the heels of the Mitrokhin Archive II where the top leadership of Congress was accused of having sold the interests of the nation at the hands of the then USSR for a kitty of few crores. Then came the Volcker Committee Report which accused the Congress Party of having made crores out of non-contractual oil vouchers from the Saddam regime in Iraq. Although initially Congress rubbished the allegations, yet later it had to show the door to the External Affairs Minister, Shri Natwar Singh to save the skin of the Congress President. No mean an ‘achievement’ for Congress in just 20 months of its rule!

On March 20 the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) launched a fresh offensive against the Congress-led UPA government when it claimed that it had “highly incriminating evidence” of corruption in the UPA Government’s Rs 18,798 crore Scorpene submarine deal with a French firm and demanded that it be immediately scrapped and a “credible” judicial probe instituted to bring out the truth. We have a proof of graft, they told the Government.

Basing his allegations on the outcome of the NDA’s ‘own study and investigation’, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Shri L. K. Advani in a Press Conference alleged that four per cent commission had been paid to middleman Abhishek Verma and his associates, making this “the biggest defence scandal so far, one that is far bigger than the Bofors scam”. In the Press Conference Shri Advani was flanked by NDA convener and former Defence Minister Shri George Fernandes (Janata Dal-United) and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Shri Jaswant Singh.

He demanded the immediate arrest of Shri Verma and his associates as also of those foreigners involved in the leak of classified information from the Indian Navy’s War Room.

Shri Advani pointed out that though the Outlook newsweekly had reported the alleged wrongdoing and named Verma as a middleman for the ruling Congress party, “there is neither any refutation from the party nor has it taken the magazine to court (for making the allegation)”.

He also alleged that the “middleman” who had cornered the illegal commission had proven connections with senior Congress leaders and there was apprehension that he was fronting for the party.

“There should be the institution of a credible commission of inquiry involving appropriate investigative agencies to pinpoint political responsibility and wrongdoing by others,” he said.