Wednesday, April 13 2005 16:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: After the controversy over the virtual clean chit to former Defence Minister George Fernandes in the Kargil arms purchase scam, the Centre today (Apr 13, 2005) filed a second affidavit in the Supreme Court saying it has decided to refer 23 more arms deals to CBI for fresh probe.

"The Government is committed to taking strict action against officials and authorities, including the former Defence Minister, if it is found that the excuse of Kargil war was taken to make the purchases with a motive of personal benefit in violation of rules and regulations," the Defence Ministry affidavit said.

Referring to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which went into 123 purchase deals during and after the Kargil war and found irregularities in 35 of them resulting in an alleged loss of Rs 2000 crore to exchequer, the Government said that of these 35 purchases, 23 were being referred to CBI for a detailed probe.

"CAG report has brought out that modified procurement procedure was used to push through deals in the name of Kargil long after the hostilities had ceased and if the deals were to be scrutinised in normal circumstances, these would not have been entered into, thereby, suggesting serious misconduct on the part of officials and authorities in the Government, including the then Defence Minister," said the affidavit.

"The Ministry has, therefore, decided to refer balance 23 cases which were yet to be vetted by CAG to CBI for investigation" it said.

The 23 purchases include bullet-proof jackets for Rs 51.65 crore, Illuminating Ammunition for 155mm gun for Rs 52.47 crore, Special Ammunition for 40mm L-70 gun for Rs 166.44 crore, automatic grenade launchers for Rs 52.13 crore, spares for 155mm gun for Rs 97.65 crore, 155mm red phosphorous ammunitions for Rs 55.1 crore and sleeping bags and special clothing and mountaineering equipment for Rs 116 crores.

The CBI, which had already been asked to probe cases pertaining to purchases of Hand Held Thermal Imagers (HHTIs) and Terminally Guided Munitions (Krasnapol) (TGMs) featuring in the Tehelka tapes, is also being asked to look into the purchases relating to ammunitions for T-72 tanks, aluminium caskets, the Ministry said.

"In view of the above, the Government is now exploring whether the facts reveal a prima facie case of commission of criminal offences under law as heavy financial losses in excess of Rs 2000 crores (as per CAG Report) were caused, in addition to the fact that the equipment did not materialise in the time of its need," it said.

However, in its earlier affidavit, the Government had said there was no violation of any financial rules of the Government or the Defence Procurement Procedures, 1992 and that the modified procedures issued on June 21, 1999 were not to substitute or super cede the prescribed procedures for normal procurement action.

The modified procedures were meant only to "telescope" the time frame, particularly for imports, that has become critical keeping in view the intensity of "Operation Vijay" and unpredictability of the situation on the period for which the operation would last, it had said.

The Court had issued notice to the Centre on a PIL filed by one K G Dhananjay Chauhan alleging that irregularities in the Kargil scam caused a loss of Rs 2,175 crore to the national exchequer.