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Army chief gives CBI Tatra papers
Army chief General VK Singh on Friday provided documents to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that purportedly indicated corruption and lobbying in the Tatra trucks procurement by the army, sources said. Rajesh Ahuja reports.
Army chief General VK Singh on Friday provided documents to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that purportedly indicated corruption and lobbying in the Tatra trucks procurement by the army, sources said.
A two-member CBI team met Gen Singh in his office to seek clarifications on the Rs 14-crore bribery charge levelled by him against retired Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh.
Gen Singh had in his formal complaint to the CBI 10 days ago, named UK-based Vectra chairman Ravinder Rishi as the person on whose behalf retired Lt Gen Tejinder Singh offered him a Rs 14-crore bribe to clear a fleet of 600 “sub-standard” Tatra trucks in September 2010. He had said in his complaint that Tejinder Singh met him and claimed that Rishi was scared of meeting him directly and that he (Tejinder) had therefore come to make the bribe offer on the Vectra boss’s behalf. Rishi is an accused in the Tatra procurement case, investigated separately by the CBI, while in connection with the army chief bribery allegation the CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry.
“We had two sessions…The General repeated the earlier allegation that Lt Gen Tejinder Singh offered bribe on behalf of Ravinder Rishi. Besides providing documents to support his bribery claim, he gave papers on the Tatra procurement,” said CBI officials on the condition of anonymity.
According to sources, Gen Singh told CBI officials that he had asked Lt Gen Tejinder Singh to leave his office after the latter allegedly tried to bribe him. Lt Gen Tejinder Singh has denied the allegation all along saying that he had met Gen Singh for a personal matter.
“We were provided the visitors’ record of the chief’s office,” said a source.
Gen Singh also clarified as to why he declined to clear the Tatra procurement in 2010 and what were his objections to the deal.
“We will verify the documents. We will have another meeting very soon. After that we will examine Lt Gen Tejinder Singh,” said an official.
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