Agence France-Presse, An Indian court on Dec. 20 ordered police to complete a probe into charges that a bribe was paid in a multibillion-dollar deal to buy Scorpene submarines from a French defense firm.
The Delhi High Court told the Central Bureau of Investigation to complete its inquiry within three months and report back to a two-judge bench.
The judges also told the CBI to press criminal charges against “accused persons” if it could establish that an offence had been committed in the 2.4 billion-euro ($3 billion) deal.
“In case CBI decides to close the case after the inquiry, then it will have to satisfy the court that there was no evidence of kickbacks involved in the deal,” Judges T. S. Thakur and Veena Birbal said.
The order came a month after an Indian pressure group — the Centre for Public Interest Litigation — alleged that New Delhi was shielding Indian middlemen who took commissions from French defense giant Thales, which owns Armaris, to clinch the deal.
Thales and the French government have denied the allegations.
Prashant Bhushan, who heads the pressure group, told the court that he doubted the intentions of the CBI, which abandoned an investigation into the bribery allegations earlier this year.
“It has not done anything during the last 21 months and we fear it would submit a report without conducting a proper inquiry … We demand a full-fledged investigation,” Bhushan said.
India signed contracts worth 2.4 billion euros in October 2006 with Armaris and European defense firm MBDA to buy six of the Franco-Spanish submarines.
The deal is a technology transfer agreement.
The Scorpenes will be assembled in India, but French naval group Direction des Compagnies Navales (DCN) will produce various key parts that require equipment unavailable at Indian shipyards.
India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has also alleged that 4 percent of the contract amount, estimated to be $100 million, was paid to the brokers, one of whom is said to be close to the ruling Congress party.
Earlier this month, India said it was scrapping a $600 million deal to buy 197 military helicopters from EADS after allegations of corruption in the bidding process.
India banned middlemen in military deals following charges of bribery in a multibillion-dollar artillery deal in the 1980s with Swedish firm Bofors.
That scandal led to the downfall of the government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1989.
