Govt receives top defence secrets from arms dealer

Singh

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Antony seeks probe into allegations against Abhishek Verma in defence deals

Another middleman will go scotfree imo

===

NEW DELHI: Defence minister AK Antony has asked investigation agencies to probe into charges levelled against Delhi-based businessman Abhishek Verma, by his former partner, accusing him of acting as a middleman in several defence deals and parking over $205 million in accounts in a bank in the US.

"I have asked the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to investigate the allegations. The defence secretary has also been asked to take necessary action," Antony said.
These allegations have been made by C Edmond Allen, head of a New York-based company called Ganton Limited, in a series of letters to Antony. His charges cover purported dealings between Ganton, which Allen – a non-practising attorney – said was incorporated in the US state of Delaware on Verma's instructions, and major equipment suppliers to the Indian armed forces such as Rheinmettal, Augusta Westland, Hellenic Defence Systems and Hawker Beechcraft.

A top CBI official said the investigations were at a preliminary stage. "We are in touch with Allen and have asked him to submit the documents in original," said the official. He also said the agency is coordinating with the Enforcement Directorate as there were allegations of large scale money laundering.

Verma, the son of former Congress leader Srikant Verma, is an accused in the naval war room leak case where several sensitive defence documents were stolen and allegedly leaked to Thales, the maker of Scorpene submarines.

He has denied all charges levelled against him by Allen, and said documents implicating him have been forged. Verma said he had received a notice from the Enforcement Directorate asking for an explanation for the money in the accounts but was unable to comment since the matter was sub judice.

"As several petitions filed by me against C Edmonds Allen are pending in various Indian and foreign courts and these cases are somehow connected to alleged foreign exchange violations in which trial is going on in India under FERA Act for ten years, it will not be possible for me to comment as matters are sub-judice," he wrote.

According to Allen, the escrow accounts belong to Verma but he had the right to handle them as a result of agreements signed between the two in April 2000 and February 2004. Allen has alleged that the money in these accounts has been obtained through illegal means and that Verma has acted as a middleman in several defence deals. Verma, in turn, has issued legal notices to Allen to return the money and a case has been filed in a district court in New York, according to documents reviewed by ET.
Verma, the son of former senior Congress leader Srikant Verma and MP Veena Verma has business links with Jagdish Tytler, a Congress Working Committee member and the party's Odisha in-charge. Tytler's fashion designer son, Siddharth, is a founder shareholder in a company along with a former director of Ganton, Arjun Arora. Siddharth Tytler had also signed a joint venture agreement with Ganton India.

Confirming this Jagdish Tytler also told ET that he knew Verma as his parents were colleagues of his. He denied any knowledge of defence deals that Verma is alleged to be involved in.
Tytler also confirmed being an arbitrator in a dispute involving Ganton and another company over nearly hundred acre of land in Noida which belongs to the Yamuna Express Industrial Development Authority.

People close to Verma say that the allegations levelled against him were at Tytler's behest, a charge that has been strongly denied by both Tytler and Allen. Allen, however, told ET in an email that Tytler and Verma were very close but had fallen out recently over the Noida land deal.

Allen has also alleged that Verma has often flaunted his links with several powerful politicians which has supposedly ensured that no enquiry is initiated against him. Allen also claims to posses several sensitive defence documents allegedly emailed to him by Verma which show his 'easy access within the government'.

Corruption Charges

The letters to Antony paint a picture of labyrinthine corruption in defence deals with Verma allegedly at the centre. Some of the documents linked to the case, were publicly released by India Against Corruption (IAC) in late April, a group linked to activist Anna Hazare, after Allen sent the documents to lawyer Prashant Bhushan. In a blog posting in New York Times dated April 27, Allen was quoted as saying that he had approached it after Indian authorities showed no interest in his allegations.

In a letter to Antony dated March 28, 2012, Allen alleged that German firm, Rheinmetall AG, paid Ganton $530,000 to reverse its blacklisting by India's defence ministry. The money was supposedly paid through the firm's UBS account in Switzerland, according to bank statements of Ganton Limited, and an invoice generated by the company.

Emails sent by ET to Rheinmetall officials did not elicit a response.

via - Economic Times
 

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Govt receives top defence secrets from arms dealer

The defence ministry has been shaken by the receipt of highly classified military documents from the estranged business partner of defence agent Abhishek Verma, and suspects they have been leaked from very senior levels of the government.

The top secret contents of the files indicated a nexus between highly-placed government officials and arms agents, sources told The Indian Express
.

The documents were the third in a series sent by C Edmonds Allen, who was Verma's business partner. The Central Bureau of Investigation is already probing the first two sets. Verma has been arrested in this connection.

Allen sent copies of the documents to the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate as well. The third set is considered to be the most serious as it contains highly classified files from the defence ministry and intelligence agencies that reveal details of crucial procurement projects, some of which are classified as top secret.

Allen, a US citizen, has alleged in his letter that the secret documents were leaked by a network established in India by Verma, and were sent across the world through online video chat service Skype and BlackBerry Messenger.

The classified documents include the specifications of secret surveillance aircraft being bought by the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), minutes of a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) and a classified report on the procurement of next generation submarines by the Navy. Of particular concern are detailed notes that reveal the entire acquisition plan — down to the most basic of systems — of the Air Force in 2011-12 which India's rivals would be keen to possess.

The documents were received by the ministry last month and the CBI has sought more information from Allen. "Three packages were sent to the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and defence ministry on June 7 and were received by them," Allen told The Indian Express.

Verma had moved court against Allen last month by filing a complaint accusing him of cheating, forgery of electronic documents and criminal defamation. "We have filed a criminal complaint against Edmond C Allen. The documents provided by him are with tampered e-mail IDs and forged papers. A criminal complaint has been filed by Verma in the court in this regard. Moreover, the documents provided by Allen without appearing before the CBI or coming to India have no evidence value in the eyes of law," Verma's lawyer Vijay Agarwal told The Indian Express.

While the authenticity of the documents is still being established, the matter has been taken extremely seriously and the defence ministry has said it will cooperate with the CBI to get to the bottom of the scandal.

"The CBI and Enforcement Directorate are looking into it. The classification of the documents will definitely be probed. The ministry will cooperate with the investigating agency," a senior defence ministry official said.

The CBI probe will focus on the offices and departments that had access to these classified documents and how a company which is a consultant to defence firms laid its hands on them.

The Indian Express has a copy of the documents but has decided not to publish them in detail due to their sensitive nature. The following, however, is a gist of the information in the files:

Electronic surveillance aircraft for RAW: Letters from the Cabinet Secretariat to Elbit Systems of Israel, giving specifications on a deal to procure two aircraft fitted with electronic surveillance systems. The letter and a reply by Elbit contains detailed specifications of the aircraft systems, including range of operations it is meant to carry out. It also has a letter in which Elbit, which later emerged as the winner, asked for a special waiver after it was in danger of disqualification. Incidentally, this $350 million deal had come under the scanner after the cabinet secretariat's finance department raised objections in 2010 about its competitiveness and the fact that user trials were not carried out.

New-generation submarines for the Indian Navy (Project 75 I) : The documents contain the minutes of the meeting of a Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) session in 2011 during which the top-secret project to buy new submarines was discussed in detail between top officials. The entire contents of the Krishnamurthy report on the construction of new-generation submarines is listed, including observations and recommendations of the Navy chief, defence secretary, secretary defence production, DG acquisition and the defence minister.

Air Force acquisition plans: The document considered most shocking is 20-odd pages of copious notes on the acquisition plans of the Air Force in 2011-12. The notes discuss in detail all acquisition plans, down to spares and parts for radar systems, refurbishing of combat systems and acquisition of ammunition. Alarmingly, the documents detail the acquisition plans from eight directorates of Air HQ. These include details of repair of Aerostat radars and spares for long range radars, procurements for Su-30 MKI aircraft, spares for the Mi-25 attack helicopters and missiles, and chaffs and flares.

Other plans: Specifications, progress and details of several projects including the upgrade of Mi-17 helicopters, procurement of basic trainer aircraft, upgrade of the Mirage 2000 fleet, and procurement of naval reconnaissance aircraft have also been included.

OUT IN THE OPEN

Surveillance aircraft for RAW

Communication between cabinet secretariat and Elbit Systems of Israel, containing detailed specs and a request for a special waiver from Elbit, which was in danger of disqualification.

New-generation subs for Navy

Minutes of 2011 Defence Acquisition Council meeting, during which top-secret project to buy subs was discussed; contents of report on construction, including detailed observations.

Air Force acquisition plans

20-odd pages of copious notes on IAF's acquisition plans in 2011-12; details down to spares and parts for radar systems, refurbishing of combat systems, acquisition of ammunition.

Express Exclusive: Govt receives top defence secrets from arms dealer - Indian Express
 

JAYRAM

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Exclusive: Now Air Force plans, projects leaked

Manu Pubby : New Delhi, Sat Jul 21 2012, 02:15 hrs

The Indian Air Force's entire procurement plans, including top-secret projects detailing what systems would enter service in the next decade, are out in the open, possibly leaked with the connivance of highly placed officials within the government.

A former business associate of the jailed arms dealer Abhishek Verma has sent to several government agencies a shockingly explicit document that details the names, quantity and cost of hundreds of systems being procured by the Air Force, ranging from armed UAVs to precision guided munition, infrastructure on airfields close to China, and a new spy satellite.

The highly classified contents of this document — several hundred lines of data apparently filtered out of a central database kept on computer systems that are supposed to be closely guarded — has thrown the Air Force in a tizzy. Serving and retired IAF officers who have seen a copy of the document told The Indian Express that the contents were authentic.

Former chief of the IAF Air Chief Marshal (retd) S Krishnaswamy described the leak as "outrageous".

"This (the contents of the document) is the entire Air Force. Every department of the Air Force is here (in the document). By looking at this document one can make out every detail of what the Air Force would be like in 2020. Any rival would know what is our state and the full capability of the Air Force," Krishnaswamy said.

The document, which contains the logo of the Directorate of Information Technology, Subroto Park, as well as an email ID of the Air Force, appears to have been leaked in October 2010.

It is the latest in a series of classified documents that have been received by the defence ministry and the CBI from C Edmonds Allen, a former business associate of arms dealer Verma. It is separate from the 20-odd pages of handwritten notes on the IAF's acquisition plans in 2011-12, about which The Indian Express reported last week.

Allen has sent several tranches of information to the ministry, CBI and Enforcement Directorate since January this year. The first few lots contained information on the business links of Verma's company Ganton with global defence companies. A document released by Allen in February contained details of money transferred by Rheinmetall AD to Ganton to allegedly get it off a government blacklist.

The really scandalous disclosures came in June when Allen sent documents which contained secret files from the ministry and the cabinet secretariat. As reported by The Indian Express on July 14, these contained classified naval plans to buy new submarines, the Air Force's acquisition plans, and plans by RAW to purchase surveillance aircraft.

One of the documents sent by Allen in July contained details of meetings Verma's wife, Anca — also under arrest — had with top ministry officials, including Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju. This was reported by The Indian Express on July 19.

The Air Force is currently working to establish the source of the leak of the latest document. A spokesperson did not contest the veracity of the information in it, but said that the leak did not appear to have occurred from the Air Force, which has no central database of such information.

The document contains the status of each project listed — the money spent, the stage it was in at the given date, and the number of units planned to be inducted. The Indian Express is not publishing full details of the contents of the document given the implications for national security — it can, however, be revealed that the details include the number and cost of killer drones that the IAF plans to induct, precise quantities of missiles and precision-guided ammunition ordered or about to be booked, two satellites that the IAF has ordered, and details of the upgrades of fighter aircraft.

"There are serious security implications if the document and its contents are authentic. They give out a precise capability evaluation of the Air Force. A detailed investigation is required to find out how details on each of the projects has been collated and for whom. Immediate action is required to find out the people responsible and fix loopholes," senior defence analyst Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak said.

While officials say that an investigation is on, no agency has yet registered a case on the leak of the classified documents in clear violation of the Official Secrets Act.



Express exclusive: Air Force plans, projects leaked - Indian Express


we will never survive at the hands of this b..tards..:shocked:
 
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Bhadra

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Re: Exclusive: After Navy, now Air Force plans, projects leaked

Which is the agency which collates and keeps such data in order to see the overall picture of the entire gamut. Not obviously the different branches of the Service HQ. It is either done by MoD or the PMO. It seems there is stiff competition amongst Babus at both the levels as to who earns more !

Jai Ho ! Antony once again will hold his head with his hands.

Now Rahul Baba is welcome to the world of skull dredgers and back stabbers !
 
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ani82v

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Re: Exclusive: After Navy, now Air Force plans, projects leaked

Now imagine Rahul Gandhi as the minister!
 

Rahul92

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Re: Exclusive: After Navy, now Air Force plans, projects leaked

Fu** Indian Express
 

sayareakd

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Re: Exclusive: After Navy, now Air Force plans, projects leaked

person responsible should be send to firing squad, wait for airforce, they should be send to test range and 200 pound bomb should be drop on them.
 

sayareakd

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Re: Exclusive: After Navy, now Air Force plans, projects leaked

Indian express has done good job, not to publish list and bringing the issue in open.
 

A chauhan

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Re: Exclusive: After Navy, now Air Force plans, projects leaked

person responsible should be send to firing squad, wait for airforce, they should be send to test range and 200 pound bomb should be drop on them.
Saya shouldn't we have an independent investigation agency for such crimes in our Armed forces?
 

Bhadra

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Re: Exclusive: After Navy, now Air Force plans, projects leaked

Saya shouldn't we have an independent investigation agency for such crimes in our Armed forces?
Like Congress bureau of Investigation (CBI) ?? Ha Ha ha ....
 

roma

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this is just another example that INdias problems are mostly , like 90% of our own making - if we only get our act together !
 
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Air-Force-plans-projects-leaked

Express exclusive: Air Force plans, projects leaked - Express India

New Delhi The Indian Air Force's entire procurement plans, including top-secret projects detailing what systems would enter service in the next decade, are out in the open, possibly leaked with the connivance of highly placed officials within the government.
A former business associate of the jailed arms dealer Abhishek Verma has sent to several government agencies a shockingly explicit document that details the names, quantity and cost of hundreds of systems being procured by the Air Force, ranging from armed UAVs to precision guided munition, infrastructure on airfields close to China, and a new spy satellite.

The highly classified contents of this document — several hundred lines of data apparently filtered out of a central database kept on computer systems that are supposed to be closely guarded — has thrown the Air Force in a tizzy. Serving and retired IAF officers who have seen a copy of the document told The Indian Express that the contents were authentic.

Former chief of the IAF Air Chief Marshal (retd) S Krishnaswamy described the leak as "outrageous".

"This (the contents of the document) is the entire Air Force. Every department of the Air Force is here (in the document). By looking at this document one can make out every detail of what the Air Force would be like in 2020. Any rival would know what is our state and the full capability of the Air Force," Krishnaswamy said.

The document, which contains the logo of the Directorate of Information Technology, Subroto Park, as well as an email ID of the Air Force, appears to have been leaked in October 2010.

It is the latest in a series of classified documents that have been received by the defence ministry and the CBI from C Edmonds Allen, a former business associate of arms dealer Verma. It is separate from the 20-odd pages of handwritten notes on the IAF's acquisition plans in 2011-12, about which The Indian Express reported last week.

Allen has sent several tranches of information to the ministry, CBI and Enforcement Directorate since January this year. The first few lots contained information on the business links of Verma's company Ganton with global defence companies. A document released by Allen in February contained details of money transferred by Rheinmetall AD to Ganton to allegedly get it off a government blacklist.

The really scandalous disclosures came in June when Allen sent documents which contained secret files from the ministry and the cabinet secretariat. As reported by The Indian Express on July 14, these contained classified naval plans to buy new submarines, the Air Force's acquisition plans, and plans by RAW to purchase surveillance aircraft.

One of the documents sent by Allen in July contained details of meetings Verma's wife, Anca — also under arrest — had with top ministry officials, including Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju. This was reported by The Indian Express on July 19.

The Air Force is currently working to establish the source of the leak of the latest document. A spokesperson did not contest the veracity of the information in it, but said that the leak did not appear to have occurred from the Air Force, which has no central database of such information.

The document contains the status of each project listed — the money spent, the stage it was in at the given date, and the number of units planned to be inducted. The Indian Express is not publishing full details of the contents of the document given the implications for national security — it can, however, be revealed that the details include the number and cost of killer drones that the IAF plans to induct, precise quantities of missiles and precision-guided ammunition ordered or about to be booked, two satellites that the IAF has ordered, and details of the upgrades of fighter aircraft.

"There are serious security implications if the document and its contents are authentic. They give out a precise capability evaluation of the Air Force. A detailed investigation is required to find out how details on each of the projects has been collated and for whom. Immediate action is required to find out the people responsible and fix loopholes," senior defence analyst Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak said.

While officials say that an investigation is on, no agency has yet registered a case on the leak of the classified documents in clear violation of the Official Secrets Act.
 

sayareakd

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if this state of affair continues, not even God can save our country, IAF, navy and RAW should take strict action against those responsible and make sure this will not happen, btw make new plans and procurement, as old one is compromised.
 

Bhadra

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if this state of affair continues, not even God can save our country, IAF, navy and RAW should take strict action against those responsible and make sure this will not happen, btw make new plans and procurement, as old one is compromised.
What happened in Tahlka case? How many politicians and Babus went to jail ? None.
So why should not they keep filling their pockets.
 

Ray

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Nothing will happen since I am sure the person(s) who has (have) done it has (have) all the right connections.

CBI is like the willow tree in any case.

It is quite disgraceful that such things can happen.
 

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