CBI missile hits Fernandes

NEW DELHI: In a move that is certain to invite charges of a political witch-hunt, the CBI has registered an FIR against former defence minister George Fernandes, his close associate Jaya Jaitly and former Navy chief Admiral Sushil Kumar for alleged irregularities in the purchase of the Barak missile system from Israel in 2000.

The deal for acquiring the Barak systems and 200 missiles for fitting on naval warships was signed on October 23, 2000, when Mr Fernandes was the defence minister and Admiral Kumar the Navy chief. The proposal for the procurement of the missile system was moved by Admiral Kumar during the Kargil war to boost India’s sole aircraft carrier, INS Viraat’s air missile defences.

Not surprisingly, the NDA convenor, who now risks political marginalisation following his complete isolation within the JD(U), blamed Congress president Sonia Gandhi for instigating the FIR, even as he maintained that the deal had the go-ahead of President A P J Abdul Kalam, who was then the Principal Scintific Advisor to the Prime Minister.

He, in fact, shot off a letter a letter to President Kalam later in the day, demanding the Manmohan Singh government’s sacking for its failure to curb corruption. He cited the Transparency International’s later report, which had rated India as the worst performer on the Bribe Payers’ Index.

The decision to procure Barak missiles, Mr Fernandes maintained, was taken much before he entered the Raksha Mantralaya and he was only fulfilling the procurement needs of the Navy. ``Thereafter, the Navy insisted that they needed it. I had to take a decision. I took the advise of the present President, who was then advisor to the Prime Minister,’’ he told newspersons this afternoon.

“On his (Kalam’s) clearance, it was done. He said it was needed. He had put his hand into it,’’ a combative Mr Fernandes told reporters at his residence here. “If they have to make any charge against me, then they should charge the President as well as he first called for it (the missile system), asked for it before I went into the government,’’ the former defence minister argued.

Mr Fernandes’ attack prompted a counter-charge from the Congress, which described his remarks as “utter nonsense.’’ The FIR, filed in a designated CBI court here on Monday, alleged that a sum of Rs two crore was paid to Ms Jaitly, who acted as “an agent” to clinch the Rs 1,150-crore deal to buy seven Barak anti-missile defence systems from state-run Israel Aircraft Industries. She was then the president of Samata Party, which subsequently merged with the JD(U).

Also named as a co-accused in the case was R K Jain, the erstwhile treasurer of the Samata Party, who was charged by the investigative agency of receiving a bribe of several lakhs. Jain, it may be mentioned, was also caught by the sting operation carried out by Tehelka in March, 2001 on the alleged irregularities in defence purchases, bragging about his links with the then defence minister and how he could swing deals. Mr Fernandes resigned from the union cabinet subsequently, but staged a comeback nine months later.

The CBI alleged former Naval chief Sushil Kumar ``colluded with the other accused to put up a note’’ before Mr Fernandes to import the Barak systems despite objections from the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
Mr Fernandes “not only approved the proposal, but tried to get it approved by the CCS,’’ the CBI alleged in the FIR.

Investigations in the deal were kicked off in the wake of a sting operation conducted by the Tehelka website in 2001, in which had come up with revelations about the alleged irregularities in several weapons deals, including the one to purchase the Barak systems from Israel at a cost of Rs 1000 crores.

The Navy had then put up a strong defence of its decision, citing as factors the unavailability of the indigenous Trishul missile system and the acquisition of state-of-the-art weaponry by Pakistan.
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