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India To Probe Army Chief Bribe Allegation
BBC NEWS, INDIA
March 26, 2012: India's defense minister has ordered an investigation into an allegation by the head of the army that he was offered a bribe of $2.7m (£1.7m) by a defense equipment lobbyist. AK Antony said federal detectives would probe Gen VK Singh's allegation, which he made to The Hindu newspaper.
Gen Singh said the bribe was offered to make him clear the purchase of 600 "sub-standard" vehicles. There has been uproar in the parliament over Gen Singh's remarks. Mr Antony said the army chief's allegations were "serious" and ordered a probe into the matter by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Press Trust Of India reported. Earlier, the parliament was adjourned with opposition parties demanding an explanation from the government.
Gen Singh told the ‘The Hindu’ that the lobbyist offered the bribe in return for approving the purchase of 600 "sub-standard" vehicles of a "particular make". He said the army already had 7,000 of the vehicles in question and many had been sold at "exorbitant prices with no questions asked".
'Standards fallen'
"Just imagine, one of these men had the gumption to walk up to me and tell me that if I cleared the tranche, he would give me 140m rupees [$2.7m; £1.7m]. He was offering a bribe to me, to the army chief," he said. "He told me that people had taken money before me and they will take money after me." Gen Singh said he had immediately reported the matter to the defense minister, Mr Antony. "I told him, if you think I'm a misfit, I will walk out," he said. Gen Singh did not say when the alleged incident happened. He said the incident proved that "obviously somewhere our standards of probity and integrity have fallen".
Gen Singh has already been involved in a row with the government over his retirement age. He went to the Supreme Court seeking a ruling to establish his date of birth as 10 May 1951 - as his birth certificate and other official documents record. Last month he dropped his case against the government after the Supreme Court said it had found no error or prejudice in the government's and army's setting of the date as a year earlier, on 10 May 1950. The date of birth determines if the general retires this year or next.
