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13 Jul 2009
29 Mar 2009

60 posts categorized "ScamWatch"

07 May 2010

Russian corruption suspected in NTPC and Gorshkov officer case

07 May 2010 8ak: Livemint has reported on the CBI investigation into a deal with power major NTPC and Russia's Technoprom Exports (TPE). TPE had virtually halted work on the project and demanded a price escalation over the 20% agreed to in the contract. CBI has reported an agent was involved in fixing the deal in violation of terms of contract.

Meanwhile the investigation continue in to the affair of the Indian Naval officer, Commodore Sukhjinder Singh posted in Russia overseeing the Gorshkov repair. Since the photos clearly show that the photos were taken with the officer posing in front of the camera, Headlines Today questions whether the release was timed to take the focus away from kickbacks in the deal. Others that 8ak spoke with said that sending officers to remote bases for extended periods without their families is a big mistake of the Indian government as it makes them lonely and susceptible to the most basic spying tricks such as 'honeytraps'. 

Army major under scanner for spying for Pak

07 May 2010 8ak: More embarrassment for India, weeks after an Indian diplomat based at Islamabad was caught spying for Pakistan, an Indian army major, posted at Andaman and Nicobar Island, has been put under scanner for sending classified information to Pakistan. Confusion in the case as to whether this was intentional or a case of a hacked computer

Secondly, Indian Express reported that the accused officer has been kept in ‘safe custody’ of the Military Intelligence (MI). However, the Indian Express report is contradicted by an official Press Release by the Ministry of Defence, which clarifies that the officer is serving with his parent unit and was never kept under safe custody. 

In an indication that the U.S. and Indian authorities were increasing their cooperation on terror, Zee news reported that the tip off about the army officers espionage activity were provided by U.S. intelligence authorities to India, after which the latter initiated a covert intelligence operation keeping a watch on the major’s activities. 

India-server reports that the major is accused of sending a serving Brigadier’s photograph to Pakistan. The Brigadier whose photo was passed on is going through a training Programme in the United States. However, Economic Times reports Army spokesperson Colonel S. Om Singh saying that there was no evidence available so far to suggest an espionage case involving the officer. The investigations were on and the officer’s computer hard disk had been sent to Hyderabad-based Forensic centre for further investigation. He further clarified that the computer had been hacked by an ‘external agency’.

30 April 2010

Spy allegation against Indian diplomat in Pakistan, may have compromised undercover agents


 29 Apr 2010 8ak: The Indian spy, Madhuri Gupta, a junior Indian Foreign Service (IFS) B grade officer, was arrested last week after the Intelligence agencies suspected her of being a spy and supplying information to Islamabad. An attaché with the Indian mission in Islamabad, Gupta, was arrested last week, after she was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs on the pretext of discussions over the ongoing SAARC summit in Bhutan. 

IBN reports that Madhuri Gupta mocked the investigating agencies for taking so long to detect her and has no repentance over her actions. The immediate threat is to the lives of other agents who's identities she may have disclosed. The Delhi Police has booked her under Official Secret Acts 1923 carrying a maximum punishment for 10 years.

Indian daily DNA reports that the profile of Gupta suited her to be a spy. The report criticises the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for sending a single woman to cope with the strain of living in a hostile environment. The Economic Times has described the decision of posting Gupta to Islamabad as callous. Investigators believe that Ms Gupta had the right profile for recruitment by the Pakistani spy agency. She was single, bright, an extrovert and a ‘disgruntled’ employee who was sent into a high-strung atmosphere.

However, DNA reports Gupta’s friends of describing her as ‘decent’ and ‘upright’ and not driven by ‘greed’. Further investigations have revealed that Gupta, turned spy after being disgruntled over the humiliating treatment meted out to her by way senior IFS officials as she was denied study leave by the MEA, reports Yahoo.

16 April 2010

Army Ordnance Corps turns 235 years old, dented by corruption allegations

16 Apr 2010 8ak/PIB: Indian Army Ordnance Corps (AOC) celebrated its 235th-raising day last week.  On the anniversary, the Corps expressed the martyrs of the Battle of Kangla Tongbi where a small band of AOC personnel defended the Ordnance Depot and fought the might of Japanese Army in the Imphal Sector during the Second World War. 

In recognition of their contribution to the nation the Corps personnel have been awarded one Mahavir Chakra, three Vir Chakras, one Kirti Chakra, six Shaurya Chakras, 21 PVSMs, 36 AVSMs, 85 Sena Medlas, 79 VSMs, two Raksha Padaks, 32 Mention in Despatches, five unit citations and 950 commendation cards. In addition, the Corps personnel have also excelled in the field of adventure and sports. AOC has the distinction of having 3 Arjuna Awardees. The sportsmen of the Corps represented the country in various international competitions including Olympics.

Army Ordnance Corps is responsible for providing complete military hardware to the fighting troops except ration and fuel. Functions of AOC involve Provisioning, Procurement, Receipt, Warehousing, Accounting and Issue of an inventory of over four lakh items. As materials manager of the Indian Army, the AOC is perhaps one of the largest logistic organisations in the world, in terms of size, value and diversity of inventory, customer base and the geographical extent of the supply chain. 

Due to large-scale financial handling involved in the corps, many senior officers belonging to AOC have been found to be involved in corruption. As of now two very senior officers, Maj Gen A.K. Kapoor and Maj Gen S.P. Sinha are facing Court of Inquiry (CoI) by the army.

19 March 2010

Sukhna Scam: Additional Dimensions

19 Mar 2010 Ali Ahmed: Having been an Army kid, I can testify to the immense problem Army parents face in educating their children. My parents settled for packing me off to a military boarding school, while my sister had an eclectic educational profile which in my reckoning did less than justice to her talents and potential. Since increasingly life’s race is dependent on the quality of education, it would entirely understandable for service officers to wish that their vigil at the borders for the nation is compensated by a reasonable, if not best, education for their children. Therefore, if a school was to come up in the environs of a cantonment at Sukhna, I couldn’t quite see why this was found objectionable by the Command Headquarters at Kolkata. This article seeks the good sense behind the action, given the dire need for schools in and around military cantonments.

Legality, morality, the media angle and bureaucratic politics on display of the case have found ample mention in cyber space. The version of the defendant General was carried on the Karan Thapar show. The courts martial proceedings and the legal proceedings in Armed Forces Tribunals and the courts will play themselves out over the next Chief’s tenure. What is lost in the legalese is the fact that postings to areas where schooling is inadequate are understandably not popular. Despite such stations being peace stations officers may prefer to continue staying away from families so that families can static. It is reported that there was a surplus of vacant officer married accommodation in Sukhna military station. This is entirely plausible. It bears mention that officers do not prefer postings to ‘remote’ North East due to this constraint. Given all this does the hullaballoo over the construction of a school near the station make any sense? 

While there is no denying that some sharp practices have surfaced, but it is a cliché that to negotiate the Indian reality of red tape requires some cutting of corners. Take for instance the very requirement of taking an NOC from the Army (No Objection Certificate) for construction near military stations. Since cantonments dot the Indian landscape, thanks to British post 1857 paranoia, this would be a considerable imposition on developing neighbourhoods in vicinity of cantonments. That the military is to deliberate on the NOC is itself temptation to which the military is being unnecessarily exposed. Cantonments, at some prominent locations such as Pune, Hyderabad etc, being right in the midst of urban agglomerations, would retard development if this rule were not to be given an enlightened go by.  

Secondly, while investing in schools, particularly in prized locales such as hill stations, is indeed a gold mine, only those with the capital, risk taking ability and a certain worldliness can pull it off. Therefore, if a certain Mr. Agarwal was undertaking to build a school and created a constituency for it to go through the military bureaucracy, there is little reason to sabotage the school itself. The gains for the military station would have been considerable. Children in school, Army wives getting a teaching job and happier officers staying with families contributing better to combat effectiveness of formations they were serving. Its certainly the kind of environment we’d like in stations manned by troops facing the ‘assertive’ Chinese. But this was not enough to convince its higher HQs. It’s possible that given the known conservatism of the military bureaucracy Mr. Agarwal may have ‘sexed up’ his publicity material on the proposed school. But that reflects less on Mr. Agarwal than our systems based on petty file-pushers requiring every breath taken be justified by precedent and an encyclopaedic ‘statement of case’. 

Nevertheless, the General in command felt it necessary to over haul the system to an extent as is now obvious, at some cost to its internal cohesion and image and, as yet uncertain and unknowable, price to be paid in future. Command HQs Kolkata owes well wishers of the Army an explanation. What pray were the security considerations against a school coming up? 

Lt Gen VK Singh has set impossibly high standards of rectitude by taking four generals involved in the ‘land scam’, which commentators as no less than a retired Vice Chief, Lt Gen Oberoi, tell us was not quite a ‘scam’. The Chief designate has a tough act ahead. For one, by his own standards, it is not self-evident how the ‘correction’ of his date of birth in Army records (as reported in the same breath as his elevation to Chief) has not helped in his alleviation as Chief. It is well known that among other considerations as being senior most, balance in years left to serve is a consideration for short-listing of names for the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet to clear. In case the correction to the date of birth did help with getting Lt Gen VK Singh’s name on to the list, then the General can be said to have taken some far-sighted action while in command of 2 Corps, when the controversy found mention in the press. The incoming Chief may like to clear the air, lest questions linger.  

Lastly, the media fanned ‘controversy’ over supposedly differing perspectives between Army HQs and Command HQs in the Sukhna affair apart, it bears noting that differences between the top two echelons of the Army also have operational fallout. Whispers in differences between the Chief and the Command HQs in Northern Command in the mid nineties, cannot but have had some impact on how the Army coped with the disturbed situation there. It had been reported - a report admittedly later contradicted – that the Army Commander had offered to resign if foreign special forces were inducted into the Valley to search for the foreigners allegedly kidnapped and later killed by the terrorist group, Al Faran. Likewise, there is an as yet untold story behind the absence of the then Army Commander Northern from the Kargil pantheon. 

In the present case the fallout has not been operational but institutional, in that the Defence Minister was forced to give out his mind on the issue. Differences are healthy and speak for moral courage and open mindedness, particularly where operational, legal and moral considerations are concerned. However, in the circumstance of bureaucratic politics on Raisina Hill, interested forces can be expected to indulge in their favourite sport of tripping up the ‘brass’ if they are allowed an opening. In the present case, debate over acquisition related limitations in preparedness - attributable to the bureaucrats - was short circuited by the eruption of the ‘scam’. That South Block took a position on the issue indicates that there is more at stake than a mere school coming or otherwise. It is perhaps for these not so apparent reasons the General VK Singh took the firm line he did. This has appalling implications for the state of the Army. 

Perhaps the formidable team in the form of a Defence Minister, widely acknowledged as a rarity in political circles for his honesty, and a Chief, who has set challenging standards of ethics, would be able to do the needful. While they are at it a task that could also be pursued is reaching the best education possible to India’s remote regions where services children are left to albeit valiant attention of Kendriya Vidyalayas. Perhaps the school can finally be allowed to come up. 

(Ali Ahmed recently left the armed forces to pursue a PhD, CIPOD, SIS at Jawaharlal Nehru University)

17 March 2010

Parity for Women in Indian armed forces, even in corruption cases

17 Mar 2010 8ak: The Delhi High Court has issued directives to the Union government to allow grant of permanent commission to women officers. 

Hearing a petition filed by the serving and retired women officers, a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kaul delivered the verdict and asked the government to provide all the benefits to them, which are enjoyed by their male counterparts. As per the existing system, their male colleagues get permanent commission after ten years but the women must retire after 14 years of service. 

Women officers in the armed forces feel that the verdict will help them get parity with their male counterparts, who consider themselves to be superior to the former. However, the longstanding demand of the women officers to get commissioned in to the fighting arms seems to be a long way off, as the three wings of forces have categorically refused to induct women into fighting divisions.  As per the official government figures the present strength of women officers in the Army, excluding the strength of medical services stands at 1012, of which 12 are slated to retire this year.

While the high court order to grant permanent commission to the women has come as a major success for women, the army in a first case involving a women officer, has cashiered and jailed Major Dimple Singla for a year on charges of corruption. A general court martial presided over by Colonel Sanjeev Jose, earlier this month passed the sentence. 

Major Singla was found guilty on two accounts. On the first account the court martial found her guilty accepting Rs 10,000 from advocate Ambrish Sharma, who was defending the court martial case of a jawan in which she was the Judge Advocate General. In the second case, she was accused of improperly visiting Captain Kamud Maini, who was defending Chandran’s case, and asked him not to divulge any information to the press regarding the case.

Two other women defence officers have been tried and found guilty before Major Singla — though not for corruption. On March 3 this year, the Indian Air Force dismissed Flying Officer Anjali Gupta for acts of indiscipline in 2005. Last year, Captain Poonam Kaur of the Army Supply Corps was dismissed. She was the first woman officer to be dismissed from the Army on charges of levelling false allegations of physical and mental harassment against her senior officers. She was charged with improper media interaction and for failing to appear for an interview with a senior officer.