Zero tolerance for fraud: Antony

NEW DELHI: Determined to weed out corruption in defence procurement deals, defence minister A K Antony on Wednesday warned that the government would ruthlessly cancel multi-crore contracts if any malpractice in procurement comes to light.

���At times, we found certain manipulations and malpractices . We could not ignore them, so we ruthlessly cancelled big-ticket items. In future also, if there is malpractice we will not take a lenient view,��� Mr Antony said on the sidelines of a defence communications seminar here.

At least two big defence deals, including the Eurocopter light-utility helicopter deal, were cancelled during Mr Antony���s earlier tenure at the defence ministry. The Eurocopter deal was called off owing to some malpractices by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). The defence minister was categorical that any element of corruption in the future deals could also lead them to a similar fate.

Sending out a clear message to domestic private industries that are looking to enter into contracts with foreign suppliers and OEMs of defence equipment, the minister told them ���not to try to bribe our people��� .

���If they try, they will face the consequences, as also the officers and manufacturers who are in touch with them,��� he warned, adding that the government was bent on rooting out corruption and would show no leniency towards erring firms. Deviating from his prepared text for the inauguration speech at DEFCOM India-2009 seminar here, Mr Antony asked industry organisations such as CII to help the government in detecting malpractices in big-ticket deals. He said it was a conscious decision on part of the government to minimise the country���s dependence on import of defence systems and platforms.

He also recommended that more products from across the border could be sourced on the basis of ���buy and make��� rather than ���buy��� category alone. According to him, nearly 70% of the defence weapons and systems were sourced through imports and only 30% remaining component produced indigenously.

The two-day seminar on Informatics for Defence Force Transformation and Technology Development in the Information Age ��� DEFCOM India-2009 ��� has been organised by the Corps of Signals of the Indian Army in collaboration with CII. Army chief General Deepak Kapoor was also present during its inaugural session.