New Delhi:
With renewed focus on how the Indian Army buys its equipment, the CBI is interrogating Ravi Rishi, the chairman of Vectra, again today. A case against Mr Rishi accuses him of cheating and selling trucks at inflated prices to the Army.
Mr Rishi has met with the CBI a couple of times in the last few days. Soon, the agency plans to interrogate officials from the Defence Ministry as well as BEML, a state-run company that supplies trucks sourced from Tatra to the Army.
Vectra is the majority stakeholder in Czech manufacturer Tatra. Trucks are assembled by BEML in Bangalore with Tatra parts supplied by Tatra and Vectra. The problem, according to investigators, is that although all defence equipment has to be bought directly from the manufacturer, in this case, investigators suggest, BEML was acting as a middleman between Tatra-Vectra and the Defence Ministry.
Tatra trucks have been bought by the Army since 1986. The CBI is pursuing two different cases. One relates to the purchase of 7000 trucks. The other looks at a new consignment of more than 700 trucks that Vectra was allegedly trying to push through. In the former, the CBI has allegedly been granted permission by the Defence Ministry to prosecute VRS Natarajan, the chairman of BEML. Mr Natarajan has denied that he has ever received complaints about either the acquisition or the performance of Tatra trucks. He said he could not understand why the Army Chief might think of them as as "sub-standard".
The attention to Tatra trucks has been provoked by the Army Chief's disclosure last week that he was offered a bribe of 14 crores in 2010 to clear the purchase of "sub-standard" and overpriced trucks. He did not mention Tatra or the lobbyist who allegedly promised him a kickback. Defence Minister AK Antony, however, said that General VK Singh had identified the middleman to him as Tejinder Singh, a retired Lt Colonel. Early in March, the Army in a press release had said that Tejinder Singh had been offering bribes on behalf of Tatra and Vectra.