Double Checking

• Probe into the procurement of 27 antennas between 2000 and '02 from Germany's Rhodes & Schwarz at arbitrary rates
  
• Also investigate the purchase of communication equipment for the Special Protection Group, without proper checks or mandatory approvals
  
• Identity of the officers involved in these procurements is known
  
• The probe is being conducted by a former special secretary of RAW

***

• The procurement of 27 antennas between 2000 and '02 in different batches from German manufacturer Rhode & Schwarz. With every fresh purchase, the price was arbitrarily increased. In June 2000, 11 antennas were purchased at a cost of Rs 2.5 lakh each. But a month later, RAW bought 15 more units at Rs 4.2 lakh a piece. In May '01, the price was upped to Rs 5.5 lakh. By '02, the price hit Rs 15.5 lakh per unit.
  
• Similar arbitrary pricing was allowed in the purchase of VHF/UHF antennas. Four receivers were purchased for Rs 25 lakh in '94. By '99, the same equipment was bought for Rs 43.6 lakh—a price jump of 72 per cent.
  
• Singh has named the officials responsible for the purchase—Amar Bhushan, then special secretary (RAW), RAW officials R.L. Verma and R.R. Mannan and two officers from the cabinet secretariat—S.K. Mehrotra and Gaurav Sharma.
  
• No proper checks and the mandatory Systems Analysis Group approval was sought for the purchase of communication equipment for the SPG, which provides security to Manmohan Singh and former prime ministers and their families. Singh alleges that Hari Shanker, the secretary (security), and J.L. Sharma, assistant director (purchase cell), were responsible for clearing the deal.