PAC to take up tainted Scorpene submarine deal for debate

PAC-SCORPENE

New Delhi, Oct 25 (PTI) Indian Parliament's Public
Accounts Committee is scheduled to take up the alleged
financial "advantage" given to a French company while
concluding the Rs 18,798-crore Scorpene submarine deal.

The Committee, at its meeting on Tuesday, would go into
the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
relating to "undue favour to vendor in acquisition of
submarine," Parliament sources said.
Defence Ministry officials would also give oral evidence
on the issue before the Committee, headed by expelled
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh.
Bogged down by kickback charges, the Scorpene submarine
deal came under criticism from the CAG for the delay involved
and the financial "advantage" given to the French company.
In its audit report tabled in Parliament in July, the CAG
came down heavily on the Defence Ministry for the nine-year
delay in concluding the contract.
It also slammed the "undue financial advantage" shown to
the French company, which hiked the price by Rs 2,838 crore
despite the vessel's design being unproven.
The CAG report for 2008 had said Indian Navy's projected
requirement for a submarine fleet was approved in 1997, but
the contract with Armaris, a joint venture of DCN and Thales,
was done only in October 2005. (More) PTI MS
ANU


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