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BJP demands court-monitored CBI probe into copter mess New Delhi, February 15
In other major scams like 2G, the Congress has ordered probe under public pressure, but subsequently delayed the investigation. Only after the Supreme Court started monitoring the 2G scam suo motu, it started yielding results otherwise it was a lame duck inquiry for 15 months," party spokesperson Prakash Javedekar said. He charged the government with avoiding a proper and serious probe into the Rs 3,600-crore deal. Citing news reports that government's internal inquiry was eager to give a clean chit to the deal, he sought details of the probe stating that in response to his question in Parliament in December, the Defence Ministry said no formal inquiry was instituted in the absence of any specific information. It alleged the government disinterest allowed Finmeccanica chief Paulo Girasole, one of the links in the case, leave India. It also did not bother to take note of the transcripts of taped conversation between two key persons that were in the public domain, it said. "Instead of accepting its fault, the Ministry of Defence is trying to deflect the issue by unnecessarily bringing in technical specifications and dragging in the BJP-led NDA government," he said adding that the issue was not technical, but corruption. Promising to raise the issue both inside and outside Parliament, the BJP said the latest incident was one more in the series of major scams that occurred during the UPA regime.
Govt urged to fine tune Integrity Pact New Delhi, February 15 Even though the Defence Ministry and its undertakings have adopted the IP document, a key clause is understood to have been “modified” in such a way that independent external monitors can only step in to probe a deal if there is a complaint, claims Transparency International, India (TII). So while the TII today welcomed the statement of Defence Minister AK Antony to invoke clauses of the IP as mentioned in the Defence Procurement Procedure in relation to contract with M/s AgustaWestland, which in turn can lead to cancellation of contract as well as blacklisting of the contracting firm, it also called for “fine-tuning” of the IP document to avoid any more embarrassing situations in the future. According to Ashutosh Mishra, TII’s Director (IP), the earlier penal provisions of the integrity pact in arms deals were invoked for the first time in April 2012 in a Rs 224 crore bank guarantee given by Israeli Military Industries (IMI), one of the armament companies blacklisted by the Defence Ministry. However, while he feels encouraged by Antony’s statement, he also calls for “fine-tuning” the IP document as is being currently implemented in the Defence Ministry and its undertakings to avoid such situations again. “TII feels the need for publicising the contact details of all the independent external monitors on all concerned websites so that complainants and whistle blowers may bring information, which make its ineffective in case of collusive corruption,” he said. Mishra explained that unlike the IP being implemented in public sector undertakings like the ONGC, the independent external monitor of defence companies can only act in case of a complaint. This makes its ineffective in case of collusive corruption. Even though the IP has been adopted by the Defence Ministry and PSUs under it, none of the defence PSUs have signed an MoU with TII, he claimed. What is Integrity Pact
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The articulation by the principal party in the Opposition echoes the demand made by the CPM on Wednesday that the inquiry be held under the supervision of the Supreme Court. Clearly, both these parties doubt the efficacy of a CBI investigation.