Bribe

From Bofors to Helicopters, Bribery in
Defence Deals Stinks
Bribery has become a very common part of socio-political culture of our country. It has become a cause of serious concern and is compromising the security of our nation. A number of controversial defence deals have surfaced in recent past that shows that bribery in defence deals stinks.
The recent allegations of bribery in 3546 crore VVIP Helicopter deal with UK based firm Augusta Westland is not the first incident. Right from Independence many defence deals have courted controversies. The Jeep scam in 1948 was the first one to invite attention, where the vendor had delivered less number of jeeps to the country then the contracted figures. Then the famous Bofors scam in 1987, Barack Missile scam, coffin scam in 1999, Tehelka expose, Tatra trucks scam and now VVIP Helicopter scam are to name a few.
These scandals that have rocked our country time and again tell a sordid tale. They compromise our defence strength because instead of having more competitive armoury we get shoddy ones and that too at the expense of greasing the palms of third party.
Bofors scandal has already enlightened us with the role of middleman in defence deals and taking the corruption to the highest level. Around two decades back, an Italian businessman Quotrocchi was found involved paying 64 crore of bribery to Indian politicians for the successful deals with the Swedish company Bofors. This deal has provided India with 410, 150 mm Howitzer field guns.
As the scam pointed the fingers to PM office, the outbreak of this scandal rocked the country. The image of the Congress party was tarred and it led to the fall of its government in 1989.
History has repeated itself when 12 VVIP Helicopter of worth around 3500 crore was brought from UK based firm Augusta Westland. Similar allegations of bribery are now alleged on Congress government. Although Augusta Westland's GM Geoff Hoon is denying any role of middlemen in this deal, truth...