Defence Ministry yet to blacklist Finmeccanica

• Manohar Parrikar, Defence Minister

Legal vetting on, says Minister Manohar Parrikar

New Delhi, May 20:  

The Ministry of Defence is yet to blacklist Italian defence major Finmeccanica, the parent of AgustaWestland. It has, however, initiated the process by sending all the documents obtained by it on the ₹3,600-crore VVIP chopper scam for legal vetting.

“The blacklisting process has now started because the Italian court has clearly declared that there is a crime, and a bribe has been given. So, there are enough documents with us and we have sent the file for legal vetting on the decision,” Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told BusinessLine.

Parrikar said legal vetting of the documents is crucial because the company might approach the judiciary and seek damages later.

“Any action we take has legal repercussions. The company can go to court and ask for damages on certain issues. So I have to double check and I am not supposed to be an expert on law. Government cannot be arbitrary and has to ensure natural justice,” he said.

He also highlighted that the government will ensure all efforts are being made to “track the guilty.”

Money trail challenge
The scam rocked the last session of Parliament last April and brought former Air Chief SP Tyagi under the scanner, along with other retired defence personnel and bureaucrats.

However, Parrikar also acknowledged that the money trail as part of kickbacks and bribery will be difficult to trace. “It is up to the agencies to track the money. But sometimes it is very difficult to track the money flow because there are so many countries that do not give information and Indian courts don’t punish a person just on suspicion.

“I can prove intentions existed; I can prove that you intended to overpay. If money has gone into a country where no document is available, it is not so easy to track that,” he said.

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(This article was published on May 20, 2016)

Business Standard

 

Reliance Defence, Russian USC to build four frigates for Indian Navy

BS Reporter  |  Mumbai  December 24, 2015 Last Updated at 00:11 IST

They'll be built at a cost of Rs 30,000 cr; the agreement includes refit and modernisation of all Indian Navy surface ships of Russian and Soviet origin at Reliance's Pipavav Shipyard

Reliance Defence, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure and Russian United Shipbuilding Company (USC) will build four Talwar class frigates for the Indian Navy. Both the companies are expected to sign a pact in this regard on Thursday in Moscow, which coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit there.

These four frontline warships will be built at a cost of around Rs 30,000 crore at the recently acquired shipyard at Pipavav, Gujarat.

The agreement also includes a partnership for refit and modernisation of all Indian Navy surface ships of Russian and Soviet origin at the Pipavav Shipyard. Currently, there are 35 Russian/Soviet-origin surface ships in the Indian fleet.

A Reliance Defence official, who did not want to be named, confirmed the singing of the agreement. He said the combined value of the two exceeds $10 billion (Rs 66,000 crore) over the next ten years.
He said the strategic cooperation agreement is the first one of its kind between a Russian Defence OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and an Indian private sector company. Recently, Reliance Infrastructure had acquired an additional 17 per cent stake in Pipavav Defence for an estimated Rs 850 crore through an open offer, taking its total holding to nearly 35 per cent. The open offer was made by Reliance Infrastructure and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Reliance Defence Systems Pvt Ltd.

In March 2015, the company had acquired about 18 per cent stake from Pipavav Defence's promoters for Rs 819 crore.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) have already approved the acquisition, together with management control of Pipavav Defence. Last month, Pipavav Defence had also announced plans to exit the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) package, after the open offer.

[Business Standard]

Irregularities reported in health scheme for ex-servicemen

 

The report was based on the results of checks undertaken during 2012-13 to 2014-15

Sahil Makkar  |  New Delhi  December 23, 2015 Last Updated at 00:07 IST

 

The Centre has incurred losses of at least Rs 100 crore in the last three years mainly because of inflated and fake bills produced by empanelled private hospitals, said the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in an audit report on the implementation of ex-servicemen contributory health scheme (ECHS).

CAG officials said this could be the tip of the iceberg. The report was based on the results of checks undertaken during 2012-13 to 2014-15, they said.

The ECHS, similar to the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), was launched for the benefit of ex-servicemen and their dependents on April 1, 2003.

The CAG, which audited the scheme for the first time, found that a number of health cards issued to beneficiaries were more than the number of ex-servicemen registered with the office of the managing director, ECHS. These cards were in excess to 7,431. "This not only poses a threat of misuse of the card, but also extra payment to the card manufacturing company, Score Information Technologies," the report noted.
It further said empanelled hospitals were paid additional Rs 23.61 crore for more than 5,000 bills. "We found that 145 bills were paid twice," Deputy CAG Suman Saxena told reporters in a press conference. "Despite several requests, the relevant records were not produced for audit. Audit searched their records and obtained copies of a few bills in which double payments were made. This even the principal controller of defence accounts (PCDA) failed to detect."

The CAG said all these irregularities took place due to inadequate audit by PCDA. The audit report said the ECHS approved 1,088 claims, despite having been rejected by a third party appointed by it to review such claims. The rejected claims were to the tune of Rs 1.16 core.

[Business Standard]