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Guilty in arms deal case to be punished: Pranab
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 28
As the controversy raged over the alleged payoffs in a deal for purchase of Anti-Material Rifles from South African firm Denel during the NDA regime, the government today said the guilty would be punished in case of any lapses.

Maintaining that the government did not want to be vindictive, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Rajya Sabha today that “if there are any lapses or acts of omission or commission causing harm to the country, these will not go unnoticed. The guilty has to be punished”.

Asserting that no clean chit had been given to former Defence Minister George Fernandes, he said the affidavits filed by the government in the Supreme Court bore out that five cases had been referred to the CBI.

The Defence Minister was replying to a discussion on the working of his ministry.

Refuting the Opposition allegation of political vendetta, Mr Mukherjee said it were the same persons, now in the Opposition, who had gone out of the way to malign late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the Bofors case.

“In 1980s, a bright young man was criticised for going in for Bofors guns, which had proved to be the best artillery guns to counter threats against India,” the Defence Minister said without taking the name of the former Prime Minister.

“He (Mr Gandhi) was not spared even after his death. He was put in a case of corruption where there was not even an iota of evidence. His name was put in the chargesheet even after his death,” he said adding “we want to come out of this syndrome... but the Opposition has raised unnecessary controversy over the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court”.

To suggestions by members that arms procurement should be left to technical experts, Mr Mukherjee said in a parliamentary system, political leadership had to be accountable.

He said in the new arms acquisition policy, technical experts were heavily involved, but added that political leadership could not shirk its responsibility.

He said the arms procurement policy was constantly under review and a new group of experts, headed by former bureaucrat Vijay Kelkar, had been appointed to suggest more simplification of the procedure.