What do you have to say about the allegations of corruption against you?
What do you have to say about the allegations of corruption against you?
I have done nothing wrong. I have gone strictly by the rules.
Did you favour a Hyderabad firm in the MARR deal?
The other members of the price negotiation committee (PNC) showed their bias. They created an artificial distinction between the crystallised control and the synthesised version of 2/15 MARR equipment and reduced the price.
Who are these 'other members'?
N.C. Gupta, PNC chairman, is the architect of the price reduction. So is Ujagar Singh, a member of the committee. These people had reduced the price of crystallised system.
How did they do it?
The price negotiation arose out of a tender for procurement of the 2/15 MARR system and it was supposed to be done as per specifications enclosed with the tender. And they made no distinction between the two systems. In total, 3,000 pieces of the system were required. But initially the order was placed for only 500 systems with the Advanced Radio Masts (ARM). The rest of the pieces were to be procured later. By then these people reduced prices.
What was the original price ARM quoted?
Initially, ARM offered Rs 3.54 lakh per item. After the 1993 budget, prices of electronic components came down. ARM offered a reduced price of Rs 3.47 lakh.
So what was your role in the deal?
N.C. Gupta called ARM and Punwire—the lowest bidders—for negotiations. ARM offered Rs 3.47 lakh for the crystallised system and Punwire Rs 3.42 lakh for the synthesised system. After the negotiations, Gupta recommended that the price should be reduced. I suggested the DOT should seek technical opinion.
If you have done nothing wrong, how did you accumulate so much of wealth... the two dozen watches?
(Smiling) I brought all that from abroad. I have been abroad four times for official work.
How about your moveable and immoveable assets?
I have none. Now it's up to the CBI to find out.
Every day there is some scam or the other. What do you feel about it?
Yeah, we read a lot about scams in the newspapers these days. Even the pictures of my dogs are being published in the newspapers. But I have done nothing wrong.
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