The Indian Embassy in Russia has landed in an embarrassing situation following allegations that its officials authenticated a fake document pertaining to Joint Stock Company Engineering Centre UES, the joint-venture partner of Transstroy that quoted the lowest bid for the Rs 4,500-crore Polavaram dam contract.
The JV had submitted certain work experience documents to the state government to claim eligibility to bid for the dam project and as per procedure, these documents were purported to have been authe-nticated by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and the Indian Embassy.
Official sources said the issue turned murkier after the CCI of Russia denied having authenticated any document pertaining to the UES. It also said the letter submitted to the state government under its letter head was a forged one.
The state government found itself in a terrible position as the forgery allegations came at a time when it was preparing to enter into an agreement with the UES-Transstroy JV for Polavaram dam works.
“As per tender conditions, the JV company should be blacklisted if it is found to have submitted forged documents. We cannot ignore these allegations as they came under the scrutiny of the AP High Court,” a senior irrigation official said.
Sources said the UES claimed to have completed turnkey contract for works of survey, design and construction of a concrete gravity dam and Bureiskoe reservoir in Russia.
It had produced a certificate in support of its claims, but the Joint Stock Company Bureyagesstroy, which had supposedly issued the certificate, complained to the CCI of Russia and embassy officials, besides the state chief secretary Minnie Mathew, that the UES had “crudely” forged the experience certificate.
The Russian CCI promptly reacted to the complaint saying that it too had never issued any letter to UES and the one submitted to the AP government under its letterhead was forged.
The Indian authorities, however, are yet to react. “We are waiting for a reply from our embassy,” said chief engineer Venkateswara Rao.