Antony admits Singh told him of bribe offer: CBI

Former defence minister A K Antony has “admitted” that then army chief Gen V K Singh had informed him about alleged bribe offer by Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh for clearing the file for purchase of 1,676 Tatra trucks at a cost of `1193.04 crores, the CBI has told a court here.

Former defence minister A K Antony has “admitted” that then army chief Gen V K Singh had informed him about alleged bribe offer by Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh for clearing the file for purchase of 1,676 Tatra trucks at a cost of Rs 1193.04 crores, the CBI has told a court in New Delhi.

The agency has stated this in its charge sheet filed against Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh, who is accused of offering Rs 14 crore as bribe to the former Army Chief.

CBI has arrayed 20 prosecution witnesses, including A K Antony, T K A Nair, the then advisor to the PM and V K Singh. The court has now fixed the charge sheet for consideration on August 16.

CBI said that according to V K Singh, when he had reported the bribe incident, Antony had “expressed shock” on it. CBI said that V K Singh had said that on September 22, 2010 he was allegedly offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore by Tejinder Singh to clear the file for procurement of Tatra trucks.

The CBI also claimed that before the alleged bribe offer was made, Tejinder Singh and V K Singh had “excellent working relations.” The agency also alleged that the complaint and statement given by V K Singh was “duly corroborated”.