New Delhi, June 30
Even as the CBI is all set to move the designated CBI Court here soon for the issuance of Letter Rogatory (LR) for South Africa in connection with the Denel guns deal, it has got struck in the cases pertaining to several defence deals by the previous NDA government during “Operation Vijay”, handed over to it by the Ministry of Defence for probe, for want of specific complaints.

The primary reasons for the CBI not being able to make a headway so far into these cases is absence of “specific complaint” and the agency not in possession of the original documents pertaining to these defence deals running into crores of rupees, a highly placed CBI source said here today.

“In the absence of specific complaint in all these defence deals, the agency has sought original documents pertaining to the defence deals during “Operation Vijay” so that it can sift through them to make headway in the probe,” he said.

“Soon after the cases were handed over to us we had sought specific complaints or original documents of the defence deals from the Ministry of Defence. But in return we have got only the CAG report’s observations, along with footnotes from the ministry, in 10 of the 23 deals. The CBI is still awaiting original documents,” the source told The Tribune here.

In the meantime, investigators in charge of the probe are sifting through the CAG report and the footnotes provided by the Ministry of Defence to make out whether any criminal case could be made out.

“Unless there is specific details/complaints on these purchases from the Ministry of Defence the CBI cannot register a case,” he said, adding “if any criminal case is made out then we will register a Regular Case (RC) or a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) depending on the nature of the case.”

The 10 defence deals the CBI is according top priority are purchase of aluminium caskets, surveillance radars, sniper rifles, AK-47 ammunition, bullet-proof jackets, ammunitions for T-72 tanks, general ammunition, universal variable time fuses, multi-purpose boots and grenade launchers, sources said.

Meanwhile, in the Denel gun deal case, in which it is alleged that commission was paid to the Isle of Man-based company Varas Associates, allegedly for the procurement of contracts for supply of anti-material rifle (AMR) by the South African firm Denel Limited, the CBI is likely to move the designated court here for issue of Letter Rogatory (LR) for South Africa by next week, sources said.