‘Open and shut case of graft’

NEWDELHI: The Delhi Congress on Friday alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government compromised national security by giving the contract of installing CCTV cameras in the national Capital to a Chinese company, Hikvision, through public sector undertaking, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

“It is an open and shut case of corruption and compromise with the national security for kickbacks,” said Maken at a press conference and sought Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation.

The Congress has been accusing the AAP government of favouring the company by modifying terms and conditions in the tender floated for installation of CCTV cameras, one of the major poll promises of the party for the 2015 Delhi assembly elections.

Maken also questioned the Centre for including the Chinese firm in its vendor’s list.

“The company, in which the Chinese government has a 58% stake, was included in the vendor’s list of the aerospace and defence company, BEL. This is dangerous for security of the country,” the Delhi Congress president said.

Maken also showed a purported transcript of a conversation (which Hindustan Times could not independently verify), involving a Delhi Congress leader and an official of Prama Hikvision India Pvt Ltd, Chandra Shekhar, in which the latter admitted getting the order from the Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD) for installing CCTV cameras in the national Capital.

Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd. is a supplier of video surveillance products and solutions based in Hangzhou, China. Prama Hikvision India Pvt Ltd is a subsidiary of the company.

“We are a subsidiary of Hikvision in India. I do not have any idea about the role of the Chinese government in Hikvision. We have been doing business with various government departments for the past 10 years and we have not faced any such problem before. Now, we are also manufacturing here as part of the Centre’s ‘Make In India’ initiative,” Shekhar told PTI. He was identified as the branch manager of Prama Hikvision India Pvt Ltd in Delhi-ncr.

Hindustan Times sent a detailed questionnaire to the company on the mail listed on its website. Till late Friday night, there was no response.

Maken said if Kejriwal does not resign, the Congress will approach the CBI and CVC. If required, the Congress will also move the court, he said.