Five defence procurement cases taken up by CBI for probe: Government

NEW DELHI: Nine cases of alleged irregularities in defence procurement have been referred to the government by CVC for inquiry and five cases have been taken up by CBI for investigation in the last three years, Lok Sabha was informed today.

"During the last three years and in the current year, there are nine cases relating to alleged irregularities in defence purchases which the Central Vigilance Commission has referred for inquiry," Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said in written reply.

He said whenever complaints alleging violations of procurement procedures or irregularities are received by the Defence Ministry, they are "examined and after due scrutiny, appropriate action is taken. Wherever necessary, the case is referred to appropriate agency for further investigation".

In the last five years, there have been several cases of alleged corruption in defence procurement including the AgustaWestland chopper procurement scam.

To another query, the Minister said 42.7 per cent of the modernisation funds were spent by the three Services on buying equipment from foreign vendors.

On the procurement made from indigenous sources, Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh said in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, "69 per cent of the total revenue and capital requirement of armed forces was met through indigenous procurement".

On converting the decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Vikrant into a museum, Jaitley said several reprepresentations have been received including from late Gopinath Munde, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Ministry of Culture for converting the old warship into a museum.