Antony’s volte-face? Says ordered inquiry in Tatra truck acquisition in 2009

After the Army Chief being criticized for making the bribery allegations nearly two years late, on Friday it was the Defence Ministry that revealed that an inquiry was on in the irregularities in the procurement of Tatra trucks since 2009. 

The Ministry of Defence’s counter attack has come after seeing a week of furore following Army Chief General VK Singh’s disclosure of irregularities in the purchase of “sub-standard” Tatra trucks. The Defence Ministry on Friday went to the extent of saying that it had even ordered a CBI inquiry into the issue on February 22 after the internal probe.

Army trucks in High Altitude Region

What remains unexplained is that why Defence Minister AK Antony chose to remain silent about the inquiry during the statement he made in the Parliament on the issue. Also, the statement was issued by the Defence Ministry only after the reports of Defence Minister AK Antony having knowledge of the irregularities in the deal came on Friday. For the last one week, the government has been vehemently denying any irregularities in the acquisition of the trucks, 7,000 of which are in service in the force for the last 25 years.

Ghulam Nabi Azad had written a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi alleging irregularities on the part of Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) in the Tatra truck deals. The letter was then forwarded to the Defence Ministry for investigation.

In its statement, the Defence Ministry said: “A day after receiving a letter from Ghulam Nabi Azad, on October 5, 2009, forwarding the complaints of Dr. D Hanumanthappa, addressed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi on BEML, the Defence Minister AK Antony had asked the Secretary (Defence Production) to look into the various issues raised in the complaint.”

Following this the Defence Ministry claims that the vigilance wings of the Defence Ministry and BEML have been examining the matter and there have been communication between the CBI and the Chief Vigilance Officer of BEML on these allegations. It was after this inquiry that Antony sanctioned a CBI probe into the matter on February 21 this year.

“Meanwhile, the Defence Minister has accorded his sanction for a CBI investigation on February 21, 2012 in another case relating to BEML,” the Defence Ministry said.