Check this out.
A day after the ministry of defence (MoD) stated that it had “initiated action for cancellation of contract for procurement of 12 AW101 helicopters for the use of VVIPs”, the ministry announced on Saturday that it was sending a senior official to Italy to ascertain the facts in the case.The article goes on to imply that this is all political. It happened with the cancellation here in the US and it could happen in India. I'll have to write people with better visibility on Indian procurement to get the take of people with more knowledge on the workings of the Indian government.
An MoD release on Saturday stated: “MoD is deputing a senior joint secretary to Italy to gather as much evidence as possible relating to the allegations of corruption in the acquisition of 12 AW101 VVIP helicopters for the Indian Air Force. The official, A K Bal, will be leaving for Rome as early as on Monday.”
The legal action initiated by the MoD yesterday amounted to the issue of a showcause notice to AgustaWestland “seeking cancellation of contract and taking other actions as per the terms of the contract and the integrity pact.” The Anglo-Italian company has been given seven days to respond.
On Wednesday, the MoD had put all payments to AgustaWestland on hold. With the showcause notice on Friday, the MoD declared, “The operation of the contract has been put on hold”.
Corruption is widespread in Indian procurement. Whenever it gets discovered though, the Indians blame the foreign company involved, say they should have played by the rules and blacklists them, when they probably had no choice but to bribe the Indians involved in the process.
ReplyDeleteIts a shame this keeps happening to the 101 though. Its a lovely bird and politics keeps getting in the way.
Working with Indians they state corruption is widespread in all aspects of life involving both government and companies. They've said they've been in a stationary traffic jam and a police office has come along and charged (cash in hand) a speeding fine. The funny or not so funny bit is that the guy in the uniform probably rented it from a real policeman for the day who is sitting at home.
ReplyDeleteI am continually amazed at the 'shock' by western media, etc. who don't seem to understand this is common throughout most of the work out side the western nations - and it's here as well (I'm in the Dubai) but western nations seem to cover it up better by creating 'joint' companies with 'directors' from both the government agency and company to 'oversee' the contract.
The problem now, is the losing side in the contract doesn't call the lawyers but the investigators to find the winning side's bungs. And therefore nothing is ever moved forward.
Could be worse - in China they execute the gov officials and company persons involved in corruption (those that get caught anyway).
Never had this problem when Adnan Khashoggi was ensuring all was above board ;)