Amid a furore in Parliament, defence minister A.K. Antony on Monday ordered a CBI inquiry after Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh said he was offered a Rs 14-crore bribe from a lobbyist to clear the purchase of about 600 vehicles (tank-transporting trucks) into the Army.
The Army chief told a TV channel that after the incident, he had immediately informed the defence minister about it.
The bribe offer is believed to have been made around a year and half back, in 2010. Curiously, no CBI probe was ordered by the government for so many months.
It also raises questions why the Army Chief has raised the matter publicly now and why he had not filed a police complaint then. By this one utterance, however, the Chief has completely diverted public attention from his recent age controversy to the issue of corruption, and put the government on the backfoot.
Mr Antony told reporters Monday the allegations were “serious” and action had been taken. The defence ministry has made it clear that an open bidding process is now being followed for acquisition of these trucks.
The Army Chief said the person who made the bribe offer had just retired when it was made. While no names were mentioned, indications from the Army were that the bribe offer was allegedly made by a former Defence Intelligence Agency chief , who has since denied any such allegation and threatened legal action against the Army.