New Delhi, April 5
The government as well as the BJP
today dismissed the Congress allegations of irregularities in the purchase of
AK-47 assault rifles and accused it of stooping low in a “conspiracy to malign
India and the security forces.”
“Goebels must be turning in his grave,” BJP
vice-president Vijay Kumar Malhotra said at a press conference here while
describing as blatant lies the charges levelled by Congress spokesman Kapil
Sibal yesterday and defending the government’s decision to go in for the
deal.
The Congress had a vested interest in raising the issue as one of the
AICC general secretary’s son is married to the daughter of an agent of the
Russian company whose tender was rejected, he said, declining to name the
Congress leader.
The government, defending its decision to purchase the AK-47
rifles from a Bulgarian company, gave details leading to the finalisation of the
deal and the purchase of the rifles.
A Home Ministry spokesman said a
high-level Indian technical team headed by the Inspector-General of the CRPF,
along with experts from the Defence Ministry, visited the production unit of the
Bulgarian company which was 100 per cent Bulgarian government venture in January
this year to inspect and test-fire the assault rifles.
The team was satisfied
with the production facilities in Bulgaria and also the quality of the rifles.
Clearance was then given for the dispatch of 27,000 AK-47 rifles for the
Ministry of Home Affairs, the spokesman said.
“The total value of acquisition
of 64,000 AK-47 rifles is around Rs 53 crore and not Rs 20,000 crore as
mentioned in newspaper reports,” he said.
Asserting that the bids for the
supply of these rifles by Russia’s Rosoboronexport were rejected as they “did
not meet the specifications of the tender”, he said, adding that the rifles
offered by the Romanian firm, Romtehnica, also did not pass the critical tests.
The deal with the Bulgarian company was finalised following negotiations by
the Price Negotiating Committee which led to the bringing down of the prices to
“$ 155 for fixed butt and $ 163 for each folding butt rifles”, he said.
On
charges that the firm was linked with gunrunners, he said: “It has also been
certified by the Bulgarian Embassy in India that the company is a 100 per cent
state-owned company of the Government of Bulgaria”.
