Friday, June 17 2005 21:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today (Jun 17, 2005) said that all Defence procurements would be made transparent and the multi-billion dollar French Scorpene submarine deal would also be covered under this.

"Some changes have been made in the procurement procedure under which neither I will try to influence not will I be influenced. The procurement details will be put on the web for transparency," he told newsmen in Kolkata.

Asked that it appeared that the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government was out to scrap all Defence deals signed by the previous NDA (National Democratic Alliance) regime, Mukherjee said, "I had committed that all aspects of contracts which were already entered into, would be looked into and some of them might be cleared and some of them might not. It will depend on the merit of each case."

To a query on the French Scorpene submarine deal, he said that it would also be finalised as per the new arrangement. "There are different stages and all stages in respect of the procurement of Scorpene submarines have yet to be finalised and is still in process."

When asked by newsmen whether the deal would be affected by the new procurement policy, the Defence Minister said, "The question is no deal or no contract has yet been signed. So long the contract has not been signed, how can we say whether it will be affected by the new procurement policy or not."