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| THE INVISIBLE HAND BECOMES VISIBLE | | | Balbir Punj
The controversial
AgustaWestland
helicopter deal and its sordid aftermath underline the rot that had set in during the scam-ridden decade that the Congress-led UPA was in power. The tragedy is that apart from the usual suspects, such as bureaucrats and politicians, the scandal has also singed the image of Armed Forces.
Television grabs of former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi carrying a shoulder bag and being frisked by constables outside the headquarters of the Central Bureau of Investigation in Delhi have left a lasting and disturbing impression on viewers. The once proud soldier, who led IAF, a Force with a sterling record, was publicly humiliated. What a fall for a man, an icon to his men, while in office! And now, he is counted among the dalals who rob Indians to fatten themselves in the name of 'consultancies', 'commissions' and 'service charges'. They lobby for global arm suppliers, who routinely park themselves in Delhi to sell their wares.
Irrespective of the nomenclature of such 'services', the fact is that they are merely labels for bribes to be pocketed or shared. In the chopper scam, there are several settled facts - the primary being tht kickbacks totaling Rs360 crore were, indeed, shared. Surprisingly, it was not India, where the corruption took place, that woke up to the scam.
The scandal came to light in 2013 with the arrest of Giuseppe Orsi, the chief of Finmeccanica, the parent organisation of AgustaWestland. Thanks to the professional law enforcement agencies and the efficiency of criminal justice system in Italy, once the scam was exposed, the bribe-givers were quickly tried, convicted and jailed.
Hence, the bribe givers are in jail but what about those in India who pockected the bribes? So far, apart from Tyagi, his three cousins, and a few other minor players (such as Gautam Khaitan), none of those who were took the decision to favour AgustaWestland have been penalised.
Let's recall the facts of the case here: The move to replace the aging fleet of MI-8 Russian helicopters was mooted during the tenure of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In 2004, Tyagi took over as IAF chief. Fali H Major replaced him in 2007. In February 2010, a full three years after Tyagi had retired, a contract was signed with AgustaWestland. In the meantime, Major too had retired and Air Chief Marshal PV Naik had succeeded him.
The first of the AW101 AgustaWestland helicopters arrived in India in late 2012. Two more followed in quick succession. To what extent Tyagi and his associates were involved in the deal will, hopefully, be known after the inquiry is over. But one thing is certain: Tyagi is a minor cog in the machine. The real action happened through a proverbial 'invisible hand', long after he had been pensioned off from service.
However, what one fails to understand is why Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi considers the probe as a move by the NDA regime to target him? How can an inquiry into bribes in the helicopter scam be construed as a ploy to trap him?
Meanwhile, the intense debate on the AgustaWestland scandal that reverberated in Rajya Sabha for six hours last Wednesday has served to pinpoint where the muck lies. Despite marshalling all its big guns, the Congress could not avoid the public impression that the helicopters of the Anglo-Italian firm were favoured through a systematic and well-directed process wherein the rules of the game were so laid that it benefitted an as yet unnamed player - though adequate hints are available as to who that player could be. That person can only be one who exercised such authority in the ruling coalition that all caution is thrown to the winds to carry out orders from this source. And no prizes for guessing the 'invisible hand' mentioned by Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar that successfully scuttled the probe till UPA2 was in power.
During the Rajya Sabha debate, the ruling party participants were careful to avoid giving the impression that they were seeking personal vendetta by naming the person. Of course there was an exception: Subramaniam Swamy.
His was the most powerful speech as he had all the facts so neatly arranged and argued that the charge he made of criminality on the part of specific individuals and the demand he put forward to the Government to get these persons questioned, even arrested, did not appear to be uncalled for.
The moot point is that the UPA dispensation went out of way to bend the rules so that the Italian company could get a defence contract. Then, the product is tested not on Indian soil but abroad! Why?
Parikkar pointed out that such a test might be within rules but the reality is that what was tested was not the product we are supposed to buy, as the Italian firm was still at the development stage of the product. If so, what sanctity did that test have? How can a responsible Government have a contract to buy a product that it has not seen?
Former Defence Minister AK Antony claimed that he initiated action the day after the report on the bribery appeared in the media. But Parikkar's question about why an FIR was not immediately recorded to strengthen legal action against the firm even in its own country, went unanswered. The procedure adopted by Antony was like asking our envoy in London to get details and send a Letter Rogatory to Rome and elsewhere was just a dilatory tactic to avoid taking action.
Yet another mischief that has come to light in the debate is the revelation that the agreement to buy the choppers that the Government signed was with the UK-based subsidiary of the manufacturer, not the manufacturer itself. That, Parikkar said, had no legal sanctity in the case of a dispute. The UK-based company was only an agent to supply, not the supplier himself.
Most shocking was the price increase allowed to the Italian company. As Swamy pointed out, it was six times what our defence establishment estimated it to be.
In 2014, the UPA2 Government was ripe to be cut down and buried like a litter of rotten fruits. Perhaps the chopper scam will drive the final nail into the Congress one-family party or maybe more skeletons are about to roll out.
(Courtesy @dailypioneer.com) |
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