Gen Singh alleges he was offered Rs 14-cr bribe
New Delhi: Army chief General VK Singh on Monday kicked up a major row, claiming in a televised interview that he was left ‘dumbfounded’ after being offered a Rs 14-crore bribe, forcing Defence Minister AK Antony to order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
Singh, known as an upright officer, claimed the bribe was offered by a retired officer representing a firm manufacturing army trucks and immediately after the incident, he had told Antony about it.
The claim by Singh led to Antony, called as ‘Mr Clean’ for his impeccable record as a non-corrupt politician, to order the CBI probe, even as the allegations rocked both houses of parliament.
“If a person who has just retired, a few days ago, comes and tells you while talking on different issues that you will get this thing and when you have not heard something like this, it will leave you dumbfounded. You won’t understand what this person is saying. And that is what happened,” Singh said in a recorded interview to Chauthi Duniya, an internet news portal.
Asked why he didn’t lodge a police complaint, the army chief said: “You may be right that I should have complained against him. But at that time the way (the bribe was offered), for a while I could not understand what he was saying. It was not like he was giving me bribe in my hand.
“He was telling me that if you clear this file you will get this much of the amount, everybody takes it, what is your problem. In a way it was an indirect method of saying. And that is why he could not be arrested.”
The General said he told the former officer to leave his room and shared the incident with Antony.
“He (Antony) beat his forehead and told me that we should keep these people out,” said the chief, who is to retire on May 31.
The sensational revelation by the army chief was first reported by The Hindu newspaper.
Defence ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar told IANS here that the minister gave the order for a CBI probe after seeing reports of the Army Chief’s claim of bribe offer.
Antony, when asked about the allegations, told reporters in Parliament House complex that “the matter was serious” and that he had “taken action” in this regard.
The army chief told The Hindu, “just imagine, these men had the gumption to walk up to me and tell me that if I cleared the tranche, he would give me Rs 14 crore. He was offering a bribe to me.”
The newspaper said the lobbyist offered him the bribe in order to have a tranche of 600 substandard vehicles of a particular make cleared for purchase.
As the matter rocked parliament, opposition parties tried to corner the government, with the NDA members raising the issue in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. (IANS)