FilEs REVEal links bETwEEn agusTa, EMbRaER dEals
The DRDO was not on board with the IAF over selection of the Embraer aircraft.
The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) against unknown Ministry of Defence officials to probe the Embraer aircraft deal scam, in less than 12 hours after this correspondent revealed on NewsX the minutes of four meetings held in December 2006 to finalise the aircraft for the AEW&C project.
This correspondent has revealed that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was not on board with the Indian Air Force under then Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi over the selection of Embraer aircraft.
PE is the very initial measure taken by the CBI to examine any case before lodging a First Information Report (FIR) against suspected persons.
The CBI told this correspondent that “CBI has registered a PE (preliminary enquiry) against unknown opfficials of the Ministry of Defence (GOI) and others. This on a refernce from the said Ministry on allegations related to M/s. Embraer employing an agent to facilitate various contracts. These include the contract for AEW&C project wioth CABS/DRDO for procurement of 3 aircraft”.
This correspondent has accessed the key 10- page documents that form part of the “Embraer files” that are being investigated by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate. The documents contain the minutes of the four meetings held in December 2006 to finalise the aircraft for the AEW&C project.
In the first of the four meetings, held at Air Headquarter, New Delhi on 5 December 2006, the documents suggest, then Programme Director (AEW&C) Dr S. Christopher (who is currently the DRDO chief) had proposed two alternative options with different configuration and endurance for the aircraft as a platform for this project. He also pointed out that better options will be available with the change of aircraft. But the Air Force under S.P. Tyagi overruled Christopher’s arguments and stated that the DRDO will work with Embraer, the world’s third largest aircraft manufacturer that is now under the scanner of the US and Brazilian authorities for al- leged kickbacks.
The Embraer files accessed by this correspondent reveal that four meetings had taken place on 5,6, 8 and 19 December 2006 among the Air Force officers, DRDO officials and the scientific adviser to the then Defence Minister, A.K. Antony.
“Dr. Christopher brought out that better options will be available with change of aircraft. The Chairman (the then Deputy Chief of Air Staff) stated that we need to work with EMB-145 and develop a prototype with the configuration that CABS will formulate and send to IAF for consideration”, stated the minutes that are available with this correspondent.
The minutes further state: “The Programme Director, AEW&C stated that CABS has proposed two options with different configuration and endurance. DCAS asked him to submit a clear proposal of what can be achieved with a 24T aircraft.”
The Defence Ministry is also expected to seek information from Brazil and the US through Indian defence attachés deployed in Indian embassies in the two countries.
According to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, Embraer had allegedly engaged a UK-based defence middleman and paid him kickbacks in order to ink the deal with India. Media reports further alleged that Embraer officials had paid commissions to middlemen in order to finalise similar deals in Saudi Arabia. The US Justice Department has been scrutinising Embraer’s deal with India.
The newspaper report claimed that the Brazil based company came under the US scanner after the US Justice Department smelled a rat in 2010 following the former’s contract with the Dominican Republic.
In 2008, a $208 million deal with Embraer was signed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) for three ERJ-145 aircraft to build indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems for the Indian Air Force. The three aircraft were to serve as an airborne radar system known as airborne early-warning and control systems or AEWCS for the Indian Air Force.
Significantly, the Embraer deal reminds one of the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter scam due to the many similarities. Both Embraer and Augusta deals were inked when S.P. Tyagi was the Air Force chief and A.K. Antony was the Defence Minister.
Both deals were cleared between 2008 and 2010 despite alternative options being available. In both deals, UK based middlemen and aircraft company officials are allegedly involved. The lack of proper education and training of thousands of private security guards deployed at various key public and private establishments is jeopardising the safety and security of people, as they fail to act when most needed, according to Deep Chand, a former IPS officer and security expert.
A private security guard posted on night duty in one of the colonies of West Delhi’s Rajouri Garden area said that he has not received any formal training mandatory for private security guards. Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, he said, “Sahaab, what training? I am not even educated enough to understand any training. I had come here with one of my brothers and started working in a security agency; they have been paying me well.”
Asked about what he would do in case of a robbery or any untoward incident, he said, “We only have a stick with us, we cannot do much if people come with guns and weapons. Hum to aapne jaan bachane ke liye bhagengey, nah?” He, however, said that “I would dial 100 and run away to save my life”.
Delhi has around six lakh private security guards, while Gurgaon has about four lakh, working out of 15,000 small and big security agencies in the National Capital. The security guards deployed by the private security agencies need to undergo mandatory training under Section 20 of the Delhi Private Security Agencies (Regulatioan) Rules of 2009, of a minimum of 160 hours spread over at least 20 working days. The training is meant to ascertain their physical fitness, cognitive skills, ability to read and understand English, crisis response, disaster management, among other skills.
Deep Chand, who is also a director of a private security training institute, said that in the past four years, his institute trained only 300 security personnel. Asked about the criterion to obtain a certificate of training, he said: “There are many who come to this institute to ask for certificates without even wanting to train. There might be some institutes who give fake certificates and, thus, people come with such demands.” Deep Chand added: “The lack of training of private guards led to the loss of lives in the AMRI hospital fire in Kolkata in 2011, because the security guards posted there did not know how to act and had shut the door, which led to the suffocation and death of around 90 persons.”