NEW DELHI: A preliminary inquiry is underway by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the role of a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer in passing commercial information to a private company participating in a bid to sell surveillance equipment for two spy planes.The deal, in which US company Raytheon and Israel’s Elta Systems were competing, has already been put under review by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after discrepancies in the bidding process were flagged.The officer has been repatriated to the parent cadre but the tussle over the contract has stalled strengthening of spy agency’s air wing - Aviation Research Centre.
The agency had finalised purchase of two Bombardier aircraft which were to be fitted with advanced surveillance equipment.Sources said Israel’s Elta system was the lowest bidder offering a price of around $300 million and should have been the winner but despite offering the same equipment for almost double the price, Raytheon cried foul and was determined to get the deal scrapped.
The company, sources said, intensely backed by the US Government, applied pressure on the Indian Government complaining that the Israeli system was not tried. A raid was conducted by the investigators on the officer holding a prominent position in the agency and some documents related to the contract were also seized. It was suspected that the officer had provided important leads regarding the contract to the US company.The CBI probe is going on even as the entire contract was being re-looked by a committee headed by Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar.Sources said the US companies have managed to get several big deals stalled despite failing in competitive bidding. The latest incident has only put a spanner in other purchases as well. For instance, a proposal for buying four Mi-17 transport helicopters for ARC, pending since 2004, has not been able to move forward.
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