Thread by @rajtarangini2

#UnFoldingCongressScams
#HDWSubmarineDealScam
V.P. Singh resigned from Rajiv Gandhi's government in April 1987 after - in his capacity as defence minister - he ordered an investigation of possible pay-offs in the purchase of HDW submarines from a West German company.

Even though the previous government exonerated itself, reports of wrongdoing persisted.
CBI Probe was ordered in 1990
After a preliminary investigation of government files, the CBI concluded: "There has been a dishonest or fraudulent diversion of funds of the Government of India.

"Charges have been filed and some important heads are likely to roll.

In February 1979, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA),met under the stewardship of the then prime minister Morarji Desai and approved the acquisition of submarine-to-submarine killers (SSK)

for the Indian Navy with a diving depth of 350 metres.
a nine-member negotiating committee, headed by additional secretary of defence M.K. Mukherjee, shortlisted four offers: the Kockums being pushed by a Swedish firm, the West German HDW, the Italian Sauro and TNSW-1400.

On May 16, the Sethi committee submitted its report to the vice-chief of naval staff. It gave the Swedish 45-Kockums first preference followed closely by the Italian Sauro submarine. Among the offers rejected at that time by this committee was that of West Germany's HDW

because it had a diving depth of only 250 metres which was far short of the stated requirement of 350 metres.
But barely a month later, on June 15, HDW resurfaced as one of the contenders. HDW on its list with the proviso that it would be considered along with the others if it

could improve its diving depth.

In the same month, a delegation of officials from various ministries headed by Rear Admiral D.S. Painthal
The delegation firmly arrived at the conclusion that the best available product for the Indian Navy was the Kockums offered by the Swedes.

At about this juncture Indian politics underwent an upheaval. The Morarji Desai government bowed out of office and Charan Singh took over as prime minister of the country. With that also changed the composition of the CCPA.

But by this time, the Defence Ministry had prepared a draft paper for the CCPA listing the Kockums as the best buy at a cost of Rs 318 crore as against the more expensive HDW. CCPA finally met in 1980. it was presided over by Mrs Indira Gandhi who had returned to power.

Since no selection had yet been made, all competing companies extended their offers until June 30,1980. Routinely, the Defence Ministry forwarded its proposal in which Kockums and HDW were shortlisted, to the new government.

On April 10 of that year, the CCPA met under Mrs Gandhi. It approved the shortlisting of both Kockums and HDW. But it left the reconstitution of the committee to the prime minister.
When the original committee finally met on April 14, it was presided over not by the secretary but

by S.S. Sidhu who had joined the Defence Ministry as its additional secretary. There was no written directive on this development from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and no official record of how Sidhu came to take charge.Sidhu simply appeared at the meeting and announced t

hat the CCPA had decided to constitute a new seven-member negotiating committee with him as chairman.
From this point on the submarime deal took a new turn.
n May, 1980, the Sidhu committee toured Germany and Sweden. On May 17, 1980,

the committee convened a formal meeting and made a sudden switch - from Kockums to HDW. The Kockums cost was now evaluated to have gone up to Rs 403 crore against Rs 332 crore for HDW.On June 30, 1980, a week after the death of Sanjay Gandhi,

the CCPA met and approved Sidhu's recommendation for placing an order for the HDW. Sidhu was shortly replaced by S.K. Bhatnagar who for all intents and purposes presided over the proceedings and saw the deal through. It was finally signed on December 11, 1981.

The contract stipulated that four HDW submarines would be delivered at a total cost - that included the price of torpedoes - of Rs 465 crore after six years, by the end of 1987. Two more submarines, the contract said, would be ordered at a later date.

But by mid-1987 only two submarines had been delivered. And by this time, V.P. Singh was defence minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government. He received information that the Germans may have overcharged India

That's when the first depth charge exploded. On Feb24,1987,J Ajmani, India's ambass in Bonn, sent a secret telegram to the Government saying that the Germans were not inclined to reduce the price because included in it was a 7 % commission they had paid to secure the contract.

On April 12, three days after Singh ordered the inquiry, he resigned from the Government.

The key allegations are:

Indian civil servants failed to take a firm stand against HDW during the negotiations and accepted it's unreasonable financial demands.

Defence Ministry officials wrongly calculated the total cost of the HDW offer which led to cost-overruns from the initial estimate of Rs 332 crore to Rs 465 crore.

Senior officials and the members of the committee changed various technical and financial parameters in such a way

that HDW, which was second all along, came first.

HDW, AEG-T and Ferrostaal changed their earlier price quotations and did not inform the government about the role played by Indian agents.

Key Accused

S.S.Sidhu is charged with manipulating the financial and technical details of the various offers.

According to the CBI, S.K.Bhatnagar conceded unreasonable demands by HDW.

The CBI has charged Ramaswamy of deliberately inflating the Kockums offer and thereby making HDW appear less expensive.

According to the CBI report, Capt.Kondath capacity as director (submarine armament) played a key role in manipulating various figures in favour of HDW.