25 Aug 2002
Rajesh Ramachandran
Times News Network
NEW DELHI: Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) — currently probing the handing over of official defence ministry documents to Samata party financier R V Pandit — has sought an ‘‘action taken note’’ from the department of revenue on the alleged tax anomalies by a company owned by Pandit’s son.
Pandit senior is a close aide of defence minister George Fernandes and Samata party leader Jaya Jaitly. Earlier this year, he wrote a controversial pamphlet on the ‘coffin scam’ defending Fernandes and attacking the Comptroller and Auditor-General.
He also paid the fees of an expert witness from Britain, who was flown in by Jaitly to testify on her behalf at the tehelka hearings. The PAC had stumbled upon an audit paragraph referring to alleged tax anomalies by M/s Frontier Trading, a company owned by Pandit’s son, Vasant R Pandit.
The PAC wrote to the finance ministry on August 8, requesting the department of revenue to inform the PAC secretariat about the action taken on an audit objection raised by CAG regarding duty exemptions granted to Frontier Trading.
The ‘‘action taken note’’ was due on July 15 on the audit para referring to Frontier Trading’s classification of mattresses. A duty of around Rs 40 crore was imposed on Frontier by Mumbai customs commissioner (import) M C Thakur on August 31, 2001, for wrongly classifying imported luxury mattresses as magnetic acupressure treatment instruments and thereby claiming lower customs duty.
But the case has already gone in favour of Pandit’s son. R V Pandit had presented a case on behalf of his son to the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) on October 5, 2001. Within 20 days, the CBEC issued a clarification nullifying Thakur’s order. Pandit’s presentation was made to the chairman (excise and customs), member (customs) and joint secretary (customs).
Frontier proprietor Vasant Pandit told The Times of India, ‘‘Dad is my guarantor. I hadn’t gone to the board, Dad presented the case on my behalf.’’ He said everything is above board and he got speedy redressal from the board simply because he is an honest tax payer.
Showing posts with label Coffingate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coffingate. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Coffin Scam Resurfaces With Old Ghosts
25 Jan 2002
Times News Network
New Delhi: Though it is not clear where they were obtained from, shiny new aluminium caskets of the ‘coffin scam’ fame were the star exhibits at a press conference held on Thursday to denounce the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) — and the media — for highlighting irregularities in the Kargil-era purchase of 150 coffins. ‘Activist’ and pamphleteer RV Pandit, who hosted the press conference, vigorously defended George Fernandes and casket supplier Victor Baiza.
A pamphlet written by Pandit and distributed by a Samata party activist termed the ‘coffin scam’ a minor defence ministry ‘‘goof-up’’. It suggested the defence ministry — which found the caskets unusable — should induct the caskets and drop its case against baiza for recovery of money already paid to him.
For Pandit, however, the real culprit is the CAG: ‘‘His report is half-baked, almost intentionally malicious.’’ Pandit also attacked the Times of India for first reporting the CAG’s allegations. Pandit’s pamphlet, which otherwise draws freely on internal defence ministry papers, contains crucial omissions. ‘‘At no time ever did the commander of the Indian forces in Somalia authenticate the price tag of $172...in 1994 for transporting the 11 bodies of indian personnel,’’ writes pandit.
But the CAG based its report on official documents. Maj M Sajjad of the Somalia-based 66 Infantry brigade wrote in December 1994 ‘‘for’’ his ‘‘commander’’ that ‘‘the approximate cost of casket and body bags are as follows: casket - $ 172’’.
Pandit also said the CAG had no basis to assert that 75 per cent of the casket price was accounted for by the cost of aluminium. However, the CAG took this figure from the minutes of the MOD’s price negotiating committee, another document Pandit chose not to reproduce.
Also present at the press conference was MP and former Army chief Shanker Roychoudhary. However, not everything he said meshed fully with the message Pandit wanted to convey. For example, while answering questions, Gen Roychoudhary said the controversial deal needed to be inquired into since the army has declared the coffins unfit for use. He also felt the fact that DRDO and R&DE pune had indicated their willingness to manufacture these caskets indigenously is a ‘‘major aspect’’ of the controversy that needs to be looked into.
Pandit, on the other hand, argued that the MOD was entirely at fault for having asked Baiza to supply die-pressed caskets weighing 18 kilos when the us army did not insist on such specifications. But even though Baiza signed a contract with the MOD’s specifications only to renege on the terms of the contract, Pandit said the government should accept his caskets.
And though it was the MOD which referred the caskets’ purchase to the CAG as part of a special audit of Kargil-related deals, Pandit insisted that the media was wrong to report that the caskets were meant for the Kargil war.
Times News Network
New Delhi: Though it is not clear where they were obtained from, shiny new aluminium caskets of the ‘coffin scam’ fame were the star exhibits at a press conference held on Thursday to denounce the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) — and the media — for highlighting irregularities in the Kargil-era purchase of 150 coffins. ‘Activist’ and pamphleteer RV Pandit, who hosted the press conference, vigorously defended George Fernandes and casket supplier Victor Baiza.
A pamphlet written by Pandit and distributed by a Samata party activist termed the ‘coffin scam’ a minor defence ministry ‘‘goof-up’’. It suggested the defence ministry — which found the caskets unusable — should induct the caskets and drop its case against baiza for recovery of money already paid to him.
For Pandit, however, the real culprit is the CAG: ‘‘His report is half-baked, almost intentionally malicious.’’ Pandit also attacked the Times of India for first reporting the CAG’s allegations. Pandit’s pamphlet, which otherwise draws freely on internal defence ministry papers, contains crucial omissions. ‘‘At no time ever did the commander of the Indian forces in Somalia authenticate the price tag of $172...in 1994 for transporting the 11 bodies of indian personnel,’’ writes pandit.
But the CAG based its report on official documents. Maj M Sajjad of the Somalia-based 66 Infantry brigade wrote in December 1994 ‘‘for’’ his ‘‘commander’’ that ‘‘the approximate cost of casket and body bags are as follows: casket - $ 172’’.
Pandit also said the CAG had no basis to assert that 75 per cent of the casket price was accounted for by the cost of aluminium. However, the CAG took this figure from the minutes of the MOD’s price negotiating committee, another document Pandit chose not to reproduce.
Also present at the press conference was MP and former Army chief Shanker Roychoudhary. However, not everything he said meshed fully with the message Pandit wanted to convey. For example, while answering questions, Gen Roychoudhary said the controversial deal needed to be inquired into since the army has declared the coffins unfit for use. He also felt the fact that DRDO and R&DE pune had indicated their willingness to manufacture these caskets indigenously is a ‘‘major aspect’’ of the controversy that needs to be looked into.
Pandit, on the other hand, argued that the MOD was entirely at fault for having asked Baiza to supply die-pressed caskets weighing 18 kilos when the us army did not insist on such specifications. But even though Baiza signed a contract with the MOD’s specifications only to renege on the terms of the contract, Pandit said the government should accept his caskets.
And though it was the MOD which referred the caskets’ purchase to the CAG as part of a special audit of Kargil-related deals, Pandit insisted that the media was wrong to report that the caskets were meant for the Kargil war.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
George haunted by his own prize defence
8 May 2002
Rajesh Ramachandran
NEW DELHI: In a pamphlet published in January and commended by Defence Minister George Fernandes to MPs, two letters were prominently displayed to support the claim that $2,500 was an appropriate price for India to have paid for coffins meant for men killed in Kargil.
One was from US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill, the other from Indian ambassador to the US Lalit Mansingh. Blackwill’s letter to Fernandes dated December 20, 2001 — nine days after questions over the price paid for the coffins rocked Parliament — states: ‘‘I have been informed that aluminium caskets in the US Navy procurement system cost $2,768.40 each...
Inquiries on the Internet and with a casket supplier in the US indicate that $2,500 is an appropriate and reasonable price for a rubber sealed aluminium casket of the type used in funeral homes in the US.’’ Blackwill was replying to a query from Fernandes.
Mansingh’s letter gives the identical price as Blackwill down to the last decimal, citing ‘‘informal indications by military sources’’. It was written on the same day as Blackwill’s letter. Blackwill’s endorsement of the MoD price appears intriguing given that a Pentagon agency, the Defense Supplies Centre, Philadelphia (DSCP), buys identical caskets for around $1,200 a piece.
Though the DSCP bills specific branches of the US military a higher sum to cover costs, Tom Sidor of the medical material’s directorate of DSCP told TOI that $1,200 would be the approximate price the Indian Army would pay were it to approach a US casket supplier directly.
Sidor explains why the DSCP charges a huge mark up over the procurement price. ‘‘The... DSCP buys these items for depot stock. Once at the depots, any of the branches of the military may requisition them. However, to pay all of our bills, we currently have what we call a cost recovery rate that we add onto the purchase price of all items in our depots, and because of a variety of business reasons, we currently add 130.7 per cent of our purchase price onto the prices of these depot stocked items...’’
Thus, when Fernandes asked Blackwill about the price paid by the US armed forces for such caskets, he was technically correct in replying that this was around $2,500. But Blackwill may not have known — or perhaps chose not to reveal — that the actual procurement price of the caskets within the Pentagon’s procurement system was half that sum.
The Times of India asked the US embassy whether Blackwill knew that the US navy price included the 130.7 per cent internal book-keeping mark-up and that the true cost of the caskets was around $1,200. The embassy was also asked to identify the casket supplier who told Blackwill $2,500 was ‘‘a reasonable and appropriate price’’.
However, all Gordon Duguid, press attache, was prepared to say was, ‘‘We stand by the facts in (Ambassador Blackwill’s) letter of December 20, 2001’’. While Blackwill’s letter could touch upon issues of diplomatic propriety — both because of the incomplete information it contains and the use Fernandes put it to — the substantive issue is why the defence and external affairs ministries could not track down the original casket manufacturers instead of paying an inflated price to a middle-man like Victor Baiza.
Related Stories: Coffingate rocks RS again, Oppn walks out
Earlier report: India overpaid for Kargil coffins
Govt not averse to probe on coffingate: George
Rajesh Ramachandran
NEW DELHI: In a pamphlet published in January and commended by Defence Minister George Fernandes to MPs, two letters were prominently displayed to support the claim that $2,500 was an appropriate price for India to have paid for coffins meant for men killed in Kargil.
One was from US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill, the other from Indian ambassador to the US Lalit Mansingh. Blackwill’s letter to Fernandes dated December 20, 2001 — nine days after questions over the price paid for the coffins rocked Parliament — states: ‘‘I have been informed that aluminium caskets in the US Navy procurement system cost $2,768.40 each...
Inquiries on the Internet and with a casket supplier in the US indicate that $2,500 is an appropriate and reasonable price for a rubber sealed aluminium casket of the type used in funeral homes in the US.’’ Blackwill was replying to a query from Fernandes.
Mansingh’s letter gives the identical price as Blackwill down to the last decimal, citing ‘‘informal indications by military sources’’. It was written on the same day as Blackwill’s letter. Blackwill’s endorsement of the MoD price appears intriguing given that a Pentagon agency, the Defense Supplies Centre, Philadelphia (DSCP), buys identical caskets for around $1,200 a piece.
Though the DSCP bills specific branches of the US military a higher sum to cover costs, Tom Sidor of the medical material’s directorate of DSCP told TOI that $1,200 would be the approximate price the Indian Army would pay were it to approach a US casket supplier directly.
Sidor explains why the DSCP charges a huge mark up over the procurement price. ‘‘The... DSCP buys these items for depot stock. Once at the depots, any of the branches of the military may requisition them. However, to pay all of our bills, we currently have what we call a cost recovery rate that we add onto the purchase price of all items in our depots, and because of a variety of business reasons, we currently add 130.7 per cent of our purchase price onto the prices of these depot stocked items...’’
Thus, when Fernandes asked Blackwill about the price paid by the US armed forces for such caskets, he was technically correct in replying that this was around $2,500. But Blackwill may not have known — or perhaps chose not to reveal — that the actual procurement price of the caskets within the Pentagon’s procurement system was half that sum.
The Times of India asked the US embassy whether Blackwill knew that the US navy price included the 130.7 per cent internal book-keeping mark-up and that the true cost of the caskets was around $1,200. The embassy was also asked to identify the casket supplier who told Blackwill $2,500 was ‘‘a reasonable and appropriate price’’.
However, all Gordon Duguid, press attache, was prepared to say was, ‘‘We stand by the facts in (Ambassador Blackwill’s) letter of December 20, 2001’’. While Blackwill’s letter could touch upon issues of diplomatic propriety — both because of the incomplete information it contains and the use Fernandes put it to — the substantive issue is why the defence and external affairs ministries could not track down the original casket manufacturers instead of paying an inflated price to a middle-man like Victor Baiza.
Related Stories: Coffingate rocks RS again, Oppn walks out
Earlier report: India overpaid for Kargil coffins
Govt not averse to probe on coffingate: George
Kargil coffins bought at twice US price
7 May 2002
Rajesh Ramachandran
The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Contrary to Defence Minister George Fernandes' claim that $2,500 was the right price for the Kargil-era coffins imported by his ministry, the coffins cost less than half that amount. The Defence Supplies Centre Philadelphia (DSCP), a US defence procurement agency, buys aluminium caskets with the identical specifications for around $1,200.
In the US system, the product is called a ‘human remains transfer case’ and bears the national stock number (NSN) 9930-00-823-9805. The Times of India asked the DSCP whether $1,200 rather than $2,500 was an appropriate and reasonable price for a human remains transfer case if the Indian Army were directly to approach its suppliers.
Tom Sidor of the directorate of medical material, DSCP replied: ‘‘The answer is yes. The price that these manufacturers charge is, of course, related to the quantity being bought. We have bought quantities between 34 and 78 and paid prices ranging from $1,159 to $1,328.’’ In contrast, the MoD agreed to pay $2,500 per casket (with another $500 per casket for transport) even though it ordered 500 caskets.
Even as recently as last year, Pentagon procurers bought the same caskets for half that price. ‘‘The last award we made for this item was on October 19, 2001, for a quantity of 70. The unit price for that order was $1250.00,’’ Gregg Tatarka, the contract specialist at the directorate of medical material, DSCP, told TOI.
During the Kargil war, the ministry approved the urgent purchase of aluminium caskets to transport the bodies of martyrs. On July 28, 1999, the MoD’s price negotiating committee comprising L M Mehta and Maj-Gen S P Murgai of the Tehelka fame awarded the contract to Texas-based Buitron & Baiza on the basis of a written quotation of April 29, 1997, viz. ‘‘Item no.12342... NSN 9930-00-823-9805, unit price, $2,500 each.’’
The first consignment of 150 caskets reached India on March 6, 2000, but was rejected as over-weight. Subsequently, the Comptroller and Auditor-General indicted the MoD for paying an inflated price and not attempting to seek quotations from other suppliers. Fernandes has publicly attacked the CAG for this ruling.
Despite the existence of at least three US suppliers, a pamphlet setting out the MoD’s case and endorsed by Fernandes insists the ministry had no option but to go to Baiza & Buitron. It states: ‘‘...There is only one manufacturer now of such aluminium caskets in the world, located in the US. ...It is obvious that avenues abroad were explored but there were just no other sources’’.
Curiously, Buitron Funeral Homes or Buitron & Baiza is not a ‘‘source’’ for caskets as far as the US military is concerned. ‘‘We have two trusted sources of supply for this item,’’ Tatarka of the DSCP told TOI. ‘‘Delta Industries, PO Box 50128, Idaho Falls ID 83405, and Dayton Manufacturing, 3327 Elkton Ave, Dayton OH 45403.’’ Another firm, LaMar Construction, had also bagged an award for transfer cases.
According to Sidor of the DSCP, ‘‘Concerning Buitron Funeral Homes, I have no knowledge of them ever having bid on these items for Richmond (Defence Supply Centre Richmond, another procuring division), but I highly doubt it. We have never received bids from Funeral Homes on this item, or even on any of our human remains pouch procurements. Funeral Homes evidently are just service-oriented industries.’’
Related Stories:
Coffingate rocks RS again, Oppn walks out
George haunted by his own prize defence
Govt not averse to probe on coffingate: George
Rajesh Ramachandran
The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Contrary to Defence Minister George Fernandes' claim that $2,500 was the right price for the Kargil-era coffins imported by his ministry, the coffins cost less than half that amount. The Defence Supplies Centre Philadelphia (DSCP), a US defence procurement agency, buys aluminium caskets with the identical specifications for around $1,200.
In the US system, the product is called a ‘human remains transfer case’ and bears the national stock number (NSN) 9930-00-823-9805. The Times of India asked the DSCP whether $1,200 rather than $2,500 was an appropriate and reasonable price for a human remains transfer case if the Indian Army were directly to approach its suppliers.
Tom Sidor of the directorate of medical material, DSCP replied: ‘‘The answer is yes. The price that these manufacturers charge is, of course, related to the quantity being bought. We have bought quantities between 34 and 78 and paid prices ranging from $1,159 to $1,328.’’ In contrast, the MoD agreed to pay $2,500 per casket (with another $500 per casket for transport) even though it ordered 500 caskets.
Even as recently as last year, Pentagon procurers bought the same caskets for half that price. ‘‘The last award we made for this item was on October 19, 2001, for a quantity of 70. The unit price for that order was $1250.00,’’ Gregg Tatarka, the contract specialist at the directorate of medical material, DSCP, told TOI.
During the Kargil war, the ministry approved the urgent purchase of aluminium caskets to transport the bodies of martyrs. On July 28, 1999, the MoD’s price negotiating committee comprising L M Mehta and Maj-Gen S P Murgai of the Tehelka fame awarded the contract to Texas-based Buitron & Baiza on the basis of a written quotation of April 29, 1997, viz. ‘‘Item no.12342... NSN 9930-00-823-9805, unit price, $2,500 each.’’
The first consignment of 150 caskets reached India on March 6, 2000, but was rejected as over-weight. Subsequently, the Comptroller and Auditor-General indicted the MoD for paying an inflated price and not attempting to seek quotations from other suppliers. Fernandes has publicly attacked the CAG for this ruling.
Despite the existence of at least three US suppliers, a pamphlet setting out the MoD’s case and endorsed by Fernandes insists the ministry had no option but to go to Baiza & Buitron. It states: ‘‘...There is only one manufacturer now of such aluminium caskets in the world, located in the US. ...It is obvious that avenues abroad were explored but there were just no other sources’’.
Curiously, Buitron Funeral Homes or Buitron & Baiza is not a ‘‘source’’ for caskets as far as the US military is concerned. ‘‘We have two trusted sources of supply for this item,’’ Tatarka of the DSCP told TOI. ‘‘Delta Industries, PO Box 50128, Idaho Falls ID 83405, and Dayton Manufacturing, 3327 Elkton Ave, Dayton OH 45403.’’ Another firm, LaMar Construction, had also bagged an award for transfer cases.
According to Sidor of the DSCP, ‘‘Concerning Buitron Funeral Homes, I have no knowledge of them ever having bid on these items for Richmond (Defence Supply Centre Richmond, another procuring division), but I highly doubt it. We have never received bids from Funeral Homes on this item, or even on any of our human remains pouch procurements. Funeral Homes evidently are just service-oriented industries.’’
Related Stories:
Coffingate rocks RS again, Oppn walks out
George haunted by his own prize defence
Govt not averse to probe on coffingate: George
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