Defence scandal
The Central Bureau of Investigation had arrested Indian Air
Force former chief Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi. This is the first instance of a serving or
retired military chief being arrested on charges of corruption. He was arrested
in connection with the purchase order for VVIP helicopters in 2010 for the IAF.
This is not the first time that the name of a retired
military chief has come up in a defence scandal. In 1987 the central
investigation agencies had raided Admiral S.M. Nanda, accusing him of being a
middleman in the sale of German-made HDW submarines to India in the early
1980s. In 2006 the CBI
filed an FIR alleging kickbacks in the purchase of the Barak missile system
from Israel, naming among others Admiral Sushil Kumar.
Are the armed forces securing the borders of our country with
the arsenal or are they creating an arsenal to strengthen themselves at no cost
to themselves? It is strange
that in our country it takes years to unearth such conspiracy and the full
damage is done by the time conviction and subsequent process is complete. But
for Milan Court’s verdict, India would have never come to know of the abuse and
sabotage committed by the powers that be.
Other countries send culprits to thirty or fifty years of
imprisonment, after quick investigation and trial. We in our over anxiety to
save one innocent, thousands are freely looting the country. The system is so
made, it seems, to serve for this purpose and not the other way round. No
wonder a chief Minister merrily goes on here, explaining that the crores
unearthed from him are from his apple farm, and the honourable judicial system
provide him the required cushion, one way or other. A time bound court
monitored trial and delivery of justice is the remedy, which is Of course a
pipedream.
History of such cases reveal that after registering cases,
the CBI sleeps for pretty long time, dragging the investigations to a point of
time running into many years and this is enough for the parties to destroy
evidence. Whether ACM Tyagi is culprit or not is a matter which is subjudice.
In real it depends upon whether investigating agencies are able to gather
enough evidence to prove the allegations imposed on them. But here one thing
should be noted i.e complexities of the issue which becomes major hurdle for
investigating agencies to even file the charge sheet in these kind of deals. So
defense procurement policy makers should also look into this matter so that
problems of agencies could be done away with.
One thing that can be said in favour of the retired ACM is
that he had not fled the country or did nor absent himself whenever he was
called for investigation. It is a well known fact that decisions he was
supposed to have taken could not have been taken by him alone, since defence
procurement is a complex process involving so many people. He has become the
scapegoat. This doesn't mean that he is innocent. But to arrest at this stage
as if he was not cooperating is blasphemous. The case would not be proved since
many things would be brokered and finally, the few arrested would be let off
with a black mark etched on them forever in their life.
However, the snail paced judicial process in India at last
gained momentum to arrest Tyagi and his allies in copter case. The retired air
Chief has been accused of receiving ten percent commission on the deal. The
dealing of such cases gets delayed and gets complicated due to the difficulties
in getting evidence from the concerned supplying country. Already Indian
judiciary is slow. When it is a case seeking overseas evidence, the case gets
further complicated and it is the yawning from an unshaped mouth. The message
from Tyagi's arrest is that military personnel must be honest and should not
indulge in corruption on the noble service they render to the nation.
This is only one of the few cases of mighty sharks. But in
case of small fishes, thousands of lower government officials, in the past,
were exemplarily punished for taking a bribe of few hundreds or less.
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