M A I N   N E W S

CVC closes probe into defence deals
T.R. Ramachandran
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 16
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has decided to close the inquiry into all pending cases of acquisitions and purchases by the defence forces thus also bringing down the curtain on the probe into the multi-billion dollar Sukhoi deal.

Central Vigilance Commissioner P. Shankar has conveyed this to Defence Minister George Fernandes after carefully studying the report by his predecessor N. Vital in this regard. Under the circumstances the CVC has decided to wind up the cases pertaining to the three armed forces.

Sources close to the Defence Minister disclosed here today that Mr George Fernandes did not ask Mr Shankar the reasons for the multi-member CVC taking such action and Mr Shankar refrained from offering any.

In all 40 Sukhoi aircraft were purchased in 1996 by paying an advance of $ 500 million. The entire deal was worth $ 1.2 billion.

Significantly, the disclosure that the CVC has put a stop to inquiries into defence deals comes two days before the Lok Sabha takes up a Congress-sponsored no-confidence motion against the BJP-led government.

On his own volition, Mr Fernandes had written to the CVC to inquire into all defence deals of Rs 75 crore and above during the decade 1989 and 1999.

Emphasising that the CVC report is never made public, sources said the govenment’s action taken report on its recommendations was, however, sent to the CVC.

It was argued that even the Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, Mr Buta Singh, is believed to have cited the rules why they could not take up the CVC report. Besides, under the rules the CVC report could not be circulated to the members of the PAC.

Sources dismissed as “rubbish” the charges that there had been attempts at a cover-up. At the same time they maintained that making the CVC report public would amount to doing “great injustice” to civilians and those in the armed forces. In the armed forces action was initiated under the Army, Navy and Air Force Acts.

Mr Fernandes, a votary of transparency in government functioning, is said to be of the firm belief that rules need to be changed for making such reports public. In this context sources said “the government is supreme and can change the rules.” There had never been any attempt to protect or blackmail anyone.

Though the report of the CVC contains nothing “staggering or dramatic”, it has inputs from the CBI and the Intelligence Bureau as well as secret and top secret government files. The government has cooperated fully with the PAC.

Sources said: “It is because of these inputs that the CVC desired that the report should not be made public. We agree with that suggestion.”

The CVC had gone into only two defence deals while the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had probed no less than 35 purchases and acquisitions by the armed forces. Therefore, the CVC suggested that the Vajpayee government should settle the matter with the CAG and send a copy of the implementation report to the CVC.

Sources said the Defence Minister had offered to show the report to Mr Buta Singh alone but the latter declined on the ground that the report had to be circulated to all PAC members. That was not permissible under the rules, the sources added.