Probing the allegations

THE TEHELKA TAPES drew attention to two independent, although sometimes inter-related, issues. The dubious manner in which political parties are funded and the dubious means by which defence deals are struck. Under the terms of reference, the judicial probe - an omnibus inquiry which will cover all aspects of the ``revelations'' contained in the Tehelka tapes - will cover both these problems. While the setting up of a judicial probe is a welcome thing, a couple of things need to be kept in mind. The probe should not be allowed to become an occasion for the country to be served up another list of recommendations - a document which merely spells out measures for the systemic reform of the process of defence procurements or political party funding.

Such reforms are important, also imperative. But the information contained in the Tehelka tapes demand a look at specific defence deals the tapes refer to. The probe must identify whether there is a prima facie case for conducting further investigations into such deals as the Barak anti-missile defence systems acquired for the Navy. If the revelations do, as Mr. Vajpayee has suggested, provide an ``opportunity'' to cleanse political life and make the defence of the country stronger, the probe must aim at uncovering the whole truth. It is true that much of the information pertaining to defence deals in the tapes is in the nature of hearsay. Much of it is also provided by characters - principally the former Samata Party Treasurer, Mr. R. K. Jain, and the so- called RSS ``super- trustee'' Mr. R. K. Gupta - whose credibility may be called into doubt. Some of what has been said also appears to be contradictory. But the tapes contain enough to cast deep suspicions on the manner in which a few specific deals were put through. One of the most important tasks of any inquiry into the Tehelka tapes would be to carry out a thorough scrutiny of this. It is also important for any enquiry not to get diverted into a search for any conspiracy behind the expose merely to gain some political solace for the NDA.

The Tehelka tapes also disclose what has been an open secret in the corridors of the Defence Ministry for many years. Namely, that arms purchases are invariably, if not always, effected through the use of middlemen despite a specific prohibition on such persons interceding on behalf of sellers or manufacturers. It was in 1985 that the Rajiv Gandhi Government slapped a ban on defence agents when it was shopping for howitzers, a contract which was eventually signed with the Swedish arms manufacturers Bofors AB and which resulted in charges of kickbacks. It is doubtful whether the prohibition on middlemen was ever taken seriously after it was imposed. Ironically, it was the former Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, himself who had asked the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to probe allegations that middlemen were used in defence deals even after the ban. The Tehelka tapes suggest that he was either (at best) blind or (at worst) extremely hypocritical since the transcripts clearly establish that middlemen were not only alive and well during his tenure as Defence Minister but operating with impunity in the corridors of power and even within his house. Mr. Fernandes' lengthy and emotional defence on television is unconvincing because it fails to answer the fundamental questions. How the man he personally selected as his party's treasurer could brag of fixing specific defence deals, why bundles of notes were accepted at his official residence from someone posing as an arms seller and how the ministry he presided over could be so easily penetrated by middlemen and a couple of investigative journalists. It does not require a probe to demonstrate that there is something horribly wrong about all of this. What it could do though is to address how such things may be prevented from recurring.

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Section  : Opinion
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