http://expressbuzz.com/nation/centre-to-cancel-bsf-transport-aircraft-deal/239190.html
NEW DELHI: The Centre is all set to cancel the multi-million dollar deal for a couple of BSF transport aircraft after the unearthing of forged documents, ostensibly fudged at the behest of several senior officials of the Air Headquarters.
After being told about the purported scam by the Union Home Ministry, a red-faced Air Headquarters has ordered a Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the affair to find out the officials behind it.
Sources said the forgery, in all probability, occurred at the Headquarters as the papers had not gone anywhere. The CoI would also look into the role of the aircraft supplier company - were the specifications downgraded at its behest, as it would have gained had the documents got cleared unchecked.
Highly-placed sources said the deal for Spanish IADS Casa C-225 aircraft was about to be finalised when the BSF headquarters suddenly discovered that the signature of one of their top officials in the Air Wing was forged. The documents came the BSF way after the Indian Air Force, citing the lack of maintenance facility, referred that it should be taken under the BSF Air Wing.
The forged signatures were used to clear technical documents that grossly downgraded the specifications of radars (both emergency and weather radars), safety equipment and maintenance contract for the price negotiated for aircrafts with top of the order specifications.
Sources said that had the forged specifications gone unchecked it would have probably also used for buying about two dozen more of such planes in near future thus costing the Indian exchequer nearly a billion dollars for buying a far inferior C-225 aircraft. The order for these aircraft was to be placed to replace now redundant AN-26 aircraft that the BSF uses for rapid troop movement and evacuation. Of the 5 AN- 26 transport aircraft, BSF has only one capable of flying.
NEW DELHI: The Centre is all set to cancel the multi-million dollar deal for a couple of BSF transport aircraft after the unearthing of forged documents, ostensibly fudged at the behest of several senior officials of the Air Headquarters.
After being told about the purported scam by the Union Home Ministry, a red-faced Air Headquarters has ordered a Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the affair to find out the officials behind it.
Sources said the forgery, in all probability, occurred at the Headquarters as the papers had not gone anywhere. The CoI would also look into the role of the aircraft supplier company - were the specifications downgraded at its behest, as it would have gained had the documents got cleared unchecked.
Highly-placed sources said the deal for Spanish IADS Casa C-225 aircraft was about to be finalised when the BSF headquarters suddenly discovered that the signature of one of their top officials in the Air Wing was forged. The documents came the BSF way after the Indian Air Force, citing the lack of maintenance facility, referred that it should be taken under the BSF Air Wing.
The forged signatures were used to clear technical documents that grossly downgraded the specifications of radars (both emergency and weather radars), safety equipment and maintenance contract for the price negotiated for aircrafts with top of the order specifications.
Sources said that had the forged specifications gone unchecked it would have probably also used for buying about two dozen more of such planes in near future thus costing the Indian exchequer nearly a billion dollars for buying a far inferior C-225 aircraft. The order for these aircraft was to be placed to replace now redundant AN-26 aircraft that the BSF uses for rapid troop movement and evacuation. Of the 5 AN- 26 transport aircraft, BSF has only one capable of flying.
