Court pulls up CBI, MoD for not following basic rules
A special court has observed that CBI recommended closure of the Tatra-Vectra truck scandal case without even examining documents related to basic procurement rules and procedures.
NEW DELHI: Pulling up the defence ministry and Central Bureau of Investigation over the Tatra-Vectra truck scandal, a special court has observed that CBI recommended closure of the alleged corruption case without even examining documents related to basic procurement rules and procedures.
In a strongly worded order that questioned CBI’s plea to close the investigations due to lack of proof, Special Judge Pulastya Pramachala said it is “shocking” that the agency has not been able to produce the defence procurement manual that was applicable for military purchases prior to 2006 when the alleged scam involving supply of trucks to the armed forces took place.
“This is a bit surprising and shocking to see that CBI has completed investigation even without laying hand over such manual, so as to make the relevant assessment,” Pramachala observed in the order issued this week.
“How such transactions were assessed without taking inputs from the relevant procurement manual is a question which needs to be answered by CBI.” The agency has been given till January to file a response.
The Tatra-Vectra scandal had broken out in 2012, when the then army chief General VK Singh alleged that a bribe offer of Rs 14 crore was made to him by a retired officer to clear procurement of a tranche of 600 all-terrain Tatra trucks from state-run BEML.
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CBI had initiated an inquiry based on the allegations but filed a closure report in 2014, saying it has no evidence to take forward the probe.
This closure report is now under question by the special court which has taken umbrage to the agency’s submission that the “Defence Procurement Manual applicable prior to 2006 is not traceable as per information received from the Ministry of Defence”.
While Tatra trucks and Vectra, which supplied the Czech trucks to BEML, faced a ban by the defence ministry in 2012, the blacklist was lifted in 2014-15 after the CBI closure report into alleged discrepancies in the supply of 7,000 Tatra trucks to the Army by BEML since 1986.
