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New defence scam : George Fernandes isolated

	October 16, 2006

With the CBI filing a first information report (FIR) charging former Defence Minister George Fernandes with corruption in a case related to alleged irregularities in the Barak missile deal of 2000 in a designated court, the convener of the National Democratic Alliance is finding himself isolated in the political arena. His attempt to defend himself by saying that the deal was cleared by the then Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister and now country’s President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has resulted in political parties drawing further away from him. His attempt to drag the President’s name into the Barak deal appears to have found no takers in the political establishment.



The BJP was silent, the Congress was critical and Fernandes own party, the Janata Dal United refused to comment on his demand to charge A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in the case.



Fernandes’ plea is that he had consulted Kalam - then scientific adviser to the defence minister - before signing the Barak deal and he had reportedly said the “missile system was good”.



JDU spokesperson Shambhu Srivastava said: “We can’t comment on the President because we don’t have the details of what Fernandes said.” Even off the record, the otherwise voluble socialists were tongue-tied.



But sources wondered why Fernandes, who was part of the group that originally proposed Kalam’s candidacy for presidentship along with Mulayam Singh Yadav, dragged him into the scandal.



More so, because he is still the NDA convener and the BJP-led coalition considers Kalam a “valuable ally” in its battle against the UPA. “He hears us out whenever we ask for time. On crucial political issues like the office-of-profit bill, the stand he took helped our campaign,” sources said.



Mulayam, who has turned out to be Fernandes’s lone savior after he was sidelined in his own party, has not said a word on the issue.



The BJP shied away from commenting on Fernandes’s remarks. Its spokesperson, Prakash Javadekar, spoke on every aspect of the Barak episode except this one. “The Congress is known for its vindictive politics. They are hell-bent upon pinning down Fernandes, who has been an effective crusader against the corrupt Congress regime for the last four decades,” said Javadekar.



Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said: “We strongly condemn this attitude and the words used by Fernandes. Such a mindset and such remarks that had no hesitation in hitting out at the high office of the President should not be dignified further with comments.”



The CBI FIR in the Barak deal also names as accused Fernandes’ confidante Jaya Jaitley, former Naval Chief Admiral Sushil Kumar and the then Treasurer of the Samta Party R.K. Jain. The CBI spokesman said that the agency has evidence that Rs. 2 crore was paid to the then president of the political party who functioned from the residence of the Defence Minister.



Close on the heels of the Barak missile controversy, the CBI has filed another FIR in yet another defence deal relating to purchase of armoured recovery vehicles. The CBI alleged that George Fernandes intervened “several times to ensure that the deal goes to a company whose bid was the highest.”



According to the FIR filed in a designated court naming former Samata party treasurer, R.K. Jain, arms dealer Suresh Nanda and other unnamed officials as accused, the CBI alleged that Nanda had approached Jain to stop the contract from going to PSP Bohemia of the Czech Republic, whose bid for 87 ARVs was the lowest at Rs. 247.75 crore.



The Defence Ministry decided to send a team to the Czech Republic to check the firm’s manufacturing capability, but Fernandes shot down the proposal after a meeting between Nanda and Jain.



“Fernandes rejected the proposal to send the technical delegation. PSP Bohemia’s bid, which was the lowest, was ignored. Nanda allegedly paid Rs. 1 crore to Jain to get his work done.” the FIR alleged. Fresh offers were invited from the Bharat Heavy electricals Limited (BHEL) and the Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), for the supply of 87 ARVs. While the former had a collaboration with Polish Defence consortium, the latter had ties with Unimpex of Slovakia.





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CBI rebuts Fernandes’ argument about Kalam’s opinion



George Fernandes’ bid to enlist President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s view in his defence in the Barak kickback case has run into trouble, with the CBI quickly releasing “documentary evidence” t0 rebut the argument that Kalam had supported acquisition of the Israeli anti-missile defence system.



The CBI released documents showing that Kalam, then the Head of DRDO and Scientific adviser to the Government of India, had favoured the indigenous Trishul system over Barak by pointing ;to the latter’s 50 per cent failure rate.



Unfazed by the political vendetta charge leveled by Fernandes and the BJP, the CBI has decided to seek assistance form Israel by sending letters rogatory even as one of the officers, Vice Admiral (Retd.) Madanjit Singh, who headed the Western Naval Command and was involved in the evaluation of Barak, said he had opposed the acquisition, but his objections to the purchase of the Israeli system were seen as dissent.



CBI sources said Kalam had opposed the deal on the ground that the Israeli system had a 50 per cent failure rate. He had suggested that the Navy go in for the indigenous Trishul AMD system, which was being developed then.



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The BJP broke its silence on the Barak missile deal only two days after the CBI registered a case against George Fernandes. Party president Rajnath Singh said the BJP will stand by the NDA convener. However, BJP leader L.K. Advani, faced with a volley of questions from reporters, said he did not have anything to say more than what had been stated by the party so far. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee did not comment on the matter at all, though the allegations against Fernandes pertained to the period when he was Prime Minister.



George Fernandes own party, the JDU, spoke up in his defence. But party sources said that support to George Fernandes would be conditional depending on his attitude towards party president Sharad Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. A senior leader said if George Fernandes continues to rail against the duo, as he has been doing in recent days, he cannot expect them to stand by him.



The Left parties have criticised the former Defence Minister for dragging the name of President Kalam and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in the controversial deal. The Left parties said if he is so honest and upright he should allow the law to take its own course, and not indulge in the blame-game out of ‘desperation.’ The CPI(M) has demanded that the CBI should pursue the Barak missile deal probe impartially and with diligence so that if there has been any wrong doing, the culprits are brought to book.



The Congress has condemned what it calls Fernandes’ highly vicious and personal attack on Sonia Gandhi. The party said whenever Fernandes is pushed into a corner due to his own acts of omission and commission, he jumps to mount vitriolic attacks in intemperate language against the Congress president.



George Fernandes, however, continues to stick to his stand that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was behind the CBI case against him. In an interview published in a newspaper on Sunday, Oct. 15, he demanded a probe by a joint parliamentary committee into all major defence deals of the Manmohan Singh Government. He said he does not have trust in the CBI as they are servants of the Government.