2G spectrum Scam is NOT Enough. Scams Tumbling in!$15 billion Rafale deal: Build up too little?Praful Patel, the Union Cabinet Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises has denied the allegation of taking bribe of worth US$250,000 from an India-born Canadian person Nazir Karigar for sealing a deal of worth USD-100-million when he was Civil Aviation Minister in previous UPA government.
Air India enquiry into charges against Praful Patel ruled out. Just because foreign airlines may soon be allowed to invest in India's battered carriers doesn't mean they will.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar came to the defence of party colleague and fellow Union minister Praful Patel, at the centre of bribery allegations in a $ 100 million Air India contract, saying there was no evidence to link him to the scandal. NCP to stay with 'main friend' Congress even after 2014.
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Sharad Pawar backs Praful Patel in pay-off scandal-NewsX
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*Not involved in pay-off: Praful to PM- NewsX
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*Praful Patel writes to Prime Minister
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*Praful Patel in dock over pay-off scandal- NewsX
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*Indian-Canadian claims he bribed Praful Patel in 2007
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2G spectrum in NOT Enough. Scams Tumbling in!$15 billion Rafale deal: Build up too little?Praful Patel, the Union Cabinet Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises has denied the allegation of taking bribe of worth US$250,000 from an India-born Canadian person Nazir Karigar for sealing a deal of worth USD-100-million when he was Civil Aviation Minister in previous UPA government.
A day after the stunning 2G blow in the Supreme Court, there was more trouble for the UPA government on Friday as an India-born Canadian claimed that he paid Union Minister Praful Patel a 250-thousand dollar bribe in 2007.
A leading Canadian newspaper Globe and the Mail reported from Toronto that an Indian-born Canadian citizen, Nazir Karigar, is to be prosecuted on charges of paying off Patel in a case in which a former Mumbai police chief also figures.Patel said tenders for procurement of various items were routinely issued by Air India in the normal course of their business and at no stage these were dealt with or even sent to the ministry of civil aviation, much less to the minister for approval or otherwise.
Canadian daily Globe and Mail said in a news report Wednesday that the country's federal justice department was going to prosecute one Indian-born Nazir Karigar for paying bribes to Indian officials to secure a $100 million contract for the supply of facial-recognition systems to Air India.
The report alleged that Patel had received a bribe in conjunction with former Mumbai police commissioner Hasan Ghafoor, who was security director at Air India that time. Ghafoor was said to have acted as a facilitator between his childhood friend Karigar and Patel.
Karigar has been accused of paying bribes on behalf of Canadian firm CryptoMetrics worth $250,000 each to Patel and Ghafoor for the contract that was floated by the airline in 2006. The project never took off due to the massive cost involved in it.
Canadian anti-bribery law applies to foreign parties and officials who have accepted bribes.
Just because foreign airlines may soon be allowed to invest in India's battered carriers doesn't mean they will.
New Delhi's expected move to allow global airlines to own up to 49 percent in Indian carriers has been welcomed by investors as a potential lifeline for an industry mired in $20 billion of debt and on course to rack up $3 billion in annual losses.
But aviation industry experts say any celebration is premature.
"There's absolutely no reason to be bullish on airlines," said a Mumbai-based analyst with a local brokerage, who did not wish to be identified.
"Unless fuel and other dollar-denominated costs come down, nobody's going to invest in these companies, they're in such bad shape," he said, referring to a 16 percent decline in the rupee in 2011, which has driven up costs for local carriers.
Five of the country's six main operators are loss-making. Taxes in India make jet fuel far more expensive than for global competitors. State-ownedAir India, which is trying to restructure $4 billion in debt, has slashed fares, forcing competitors to follow suit.
Two carriers, IndiGo and Go Air, have between them ordered about 200 planes for more than $23 billion, adding capacity to a market where dozens of planes already sit grounded.
And changing ownership rules will do little to alter India's unappealing market dynamics or regulatory environment.
"Every airline will be interested in India because it's such a big market. But the environment should be conducive to the proper business processes," Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, told Reuters recently.
India boasts the fastest growing passenger market in major economies, up 17 percent to almost 61 million people last year, and the potential is huge. With a comparable population, China's domestic air passenger market is five times the size of India's.
"This is going to be the most important market for the next two to three decades. They (foreign players) need to have a very credible India story," said Kapil Kaul, regional head of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), an aviation consulting firm.
But, while global giants like British Airways, Singapore Airlines and fast-growing carriers from the Gulf covet an Indian presence, they may see little advantage in committing capital without further regulatory and competitive changes.
Denying the allegation, the minister said, "All the allegations are baseless. I've not taken the bribe."
Praful Patel, who is at the centre of pay-off allegations in an Air India procurement case in 2007, on Friday got support from Congress and his party NCP which maintained that it was wrong to indict anybody until some material is found.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar came to the defence of party colleague and fellow Union minister Praful Patel, at the centre of bribery allegations in a $ 100 million Air India contract, saying there was no evidence to link him to the scandal.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Friday ruled out an investigation by Air India into the charges made by a Canadian daily that Praful Patel, former civil aviation minister, and officials of the national carrier took bribes in a procurement case in 2006.
"No. Air India will not have its own investigation into the issue. Anyone can write anything in a newspaper, but for an investigation there should be some substantial reason," Singh told reporters. "He (Patel) has said that he has not done anything. I have no further information on the issue. He had spoken to the prime minister and is ready for any investigation."
Ajit Singh ruled out any investigation into the allegations published in a Canadian daily that Patel, his predecessor, was bribed regarding a $100 million Air India contract in 2007.Singh was reacting to reports that Patel had urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convey the "factual position" on the case to the Canadian authorities to avoid an embarrassment to the Indian government.
"Anyone can write anything in a newspaper. Thad does not mean we will investigate. Air India will not have its own investigation into the issue," Singh told reporters in Delhi.
"He (Patel) has said that he has not done anything. I have no further information on the issue. He had spoken to the Prime Minister. He told Prime Minister that he is ready for any investigation," the minister said in reply to questions.
At the AICC briefing, party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi insisted "we must keep a sense of balance. Unless and until some material is coming, it is completely wrong to indict anybody. The Minister himself has sought a comprehensive inquiry."
"Even the article says that the alleged bribery did not lead to any contract. In the event any factual basis for this is found, full action will be taken", Singhvi said in Delhi.
NCP President Sharad Pawar gave a clean chit to his party colleague, saying there is "no evidence about the fellow who is saying something about Patel".
"They have no evidence and the most important thing is that (newspaper) report says whatever money was offered or given for a particular job, that job, that decision was never taken", he told reporters in Mumbai.
Pawar pointed out that the minister himself has written to the Prime Minister seeking an inquiry into the matter as early as possible.
Ajit Singh said Air India will not have its own probe.
Seeking to Prime Minister's intervention in the allegation case, Praful wrote a letter to PM. In his official letter he has said, "I have categorically and in no uncertain terms denied these allegations as being baseless and preposterous. I earnestly request you that the factual position be conveyed to the authorities in Canada in order to avoid any embarrassment to the Government of India or me personally.?
The government however has ruled out the possibility of investigating the case against the allegation.
The current Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has said that Air India would not initiate a probe merely on the basis of a media report.
"Praful Patel has denied this and has also spoken to PM. Praful Patel is ready for any investigation. Air India will not investigate by its own. There should be some reason for investigation. Just publishing any news in newspaper can't be a reason for investigation,"Ajit said.
The controversy surfaced on Friday when a news came in the highlight from Canada. According to sources, a Canadian daily Globe and Mail said in a news report on Wednesday that the country's federal justice department was going to prosecute one Indian-born Nazir Karigar for paying bribes to Indian officials.
Nazir Karigar has paid USD250,000 to then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel for securing a $100 million contract on the behalf of a Canadian firm CryptoMetrics for supplying facial-recognition systems to Air India, the report said.
The bribery was given to Praful with the intervention of former Mumbai commissioner Hasan Ghafoor, who was erstwhile the security director at Air India. Hasan Gafoor has said to be the childhood friend of Nazir.
However, the deal never took place due to higher costs.
"There is no evidence to prove the Canadian newspaper report about bribery allegations against Patel," Pawar told reporters.
A leading Canadian newspaper, Globe and the Mail had yesterday reported that an Indian-born Canadian citizen, Nazir Karigar, was to be prosecuted on charges of paying off union Heavy Industries Minister Patel in a bid to secure the contract during his tenure as civil aviation minister.
Karigar was accused of paying bribes and being involved in a bid-rigging scheme in 2007 in an unsuccessful attempt to win the AI contract for passenger face recognition biometrics system. The national carrier had later abandoned the plan to have such a system.
Pawar said he had also seen the letter Patel has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh denying the charge. "I have seen the letter he (Patel) has written to the Prime Minister about the case. The decision (to have the system) was never taken," Pawar said.
India's 1.3 million-strong armed forces, hobbled by outdated equipment and slow decision-making, are undergoing an overhaul as defence priorities shift to China.
Defence chiefs are hurrying to modernise ageing weaponry as China reinforces a 3,500-km (2,200-mile) shared border through the Himalayas.
It took 11 years to select France's Rafale as the favoured candidate for a $15 billion spend on 126 new combat jets to replace a Soviet-era fleet of MiGs dubbed "flying coffins" for their high crash rate.
At the same time, feeling encircled as China projects its fast-growing naval power from Hormuz to Malacca, India is rushing to firm up friendships the length and breadth of the Indian Ocean.
India is the world's largest arms importer with plans to spend $100 billion on weapons over the next decade.
"The Indian military is strengthening its forces in preparation to fight a limited conflict along the disputed border, and is working to balance Chinese power projection in the Indian Ocean," US Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told the US Senate this week.
That "balance" includes a strategic alliance with Washington that in turn has stoked Chinese fears of containment. It is due to test-fire its nuclear capable Agni V rocket in the next few weeks, with a strike range reaching deep into China.
In 2009, the air force reopened a high-altitude, landing strip in Ladakh last used during a 1962 border war with China. Along with other Himalayan bases, it is now upgrading the strip for fighter operations.
About 500 Indian MiG-21s have plunged to the ground since the 1960s, yet the jet is still in use, raising the question of whether painfully slow defence procurement procedures can come up with new hardware faster than old equipment is sent to the scrap heap.
According to media, Russia delivered the nuclear submarine INS Chakra on a 10-year lease at the end of last month, eight years after India first asked for it.
A shortfall of about 200 planes means the air force is operating at its lowest level in decades - just 33 squadrons against a goal of 45. By the time all the Rafales are delivered, more MiGs will have been decommissioned.
"It's taken too long," said Jasjit Singh, a retired commander and director of the think tank Centre for Air Power Studies. "Can we live with a certain shortfall in the force, and for how long?"
India is developing a fifth-generation fighter with Russia and aims to fly it in 2015, as well as a fleet of 272 Sukhois, half of which have already been built.
From a defence perspective, India has traditionally had the upper hand over China's numerically superior air force, but rapid modernisation over the border may have flipped the balance.
A Canadian journalist, who reported on bribery charges levelled against Union Minister Praful Patel, on Friday tweeted that there was no evidence to show that he took bribe.
In a series of tweets through the day, 'The Globe and Mail' scribe, Stephanie Nolen, made it clear that she had written only on allegations made against Patel by an Indian- born Canadian citizen, Nazir Karigar who is being prosecuted in Canada on charges of paying off Patel in a case in which a former Mumbai police chief also figures.
"Praful Patel isn't accused of taking the bribe. Canadian accused of saying he was going to pay it. Critical difference," she said in one tweet.
In another posting on the microblogging site, she said "I object to ppl (people) misquoting our story: regardless of what you think of Patel, evidence does not show he took bribe". "No, a Canadian is accused of SAYING he bribed Praful Patel. Critical difference. Pls read our story", read the third.
The Canadian newspaper report had said that Karigar had claimed he had paid bribe to Patel in 2007 in an unsuccessful attempt to win a USD 100 million Air India contract for a computerised passenger face recognition biometrics system. The airline had ultimately abandoned the plans for such a system.
Patel, who has rubbished the charges, today got support from Congress and his party NCP which maintained that it was wrong to indict anybody until some material is found.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh also ruled out any investigation into the allegations.
NCP to stay with 'main friend' Congress even after 2014: Sharad Pawar
Stating that Congress is his "main friend", Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said that he would prefer to align with it even after the 2014 LokSabha elections.
Pawar's remarks comes in wake of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan'sreported comment that NCP was Congress' main rival during his campaign speeches for the local bodies polls. "I will say Congress is our main friend," Pawar said.
Reacting to the Chief Minister's statement that Congress should work to form next government in the state on its own, Pawar took potshots atChavan saying, "He has given us inspiration to expand our base too. But, I would welcome suggestions from those, who are directly elected from the people."
Chavan was a Rajya Sabha MP as a central minister and is an MLC now.
Responding to another statement of Chavan while campaigning that NCPwas born out of personal ambitions, Pawar said, his party was made up of self-made people, who are elected by masses. "We don't have leaders who are deputed," he said.
Ticking off his nephew and state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Home Minister RR Patil for commenting against Industries Minister Narayan Rane,Pawar said, he expected his party men to exercise restrain while attacking the Congress leaders personally.
"I appeal to my party leaders not to get provoked since we are in the government at the Centre, Maharashtra and in neighbouring Goa as well. After such personal attacks, it takes time to restore normalcy in the relations," he added.Pawar said NCP should concentrate on the development of rural Maharashtra as it was the party's main base and strength.
The NCP chief said that in some districts Congress and NCP are pitted against each other. "Both the parties have right to expand their base, but recent incidents like targetting Congress leaders personally should not be repeated," he said.
When asked if he wanted to convey this message to Congress leaders as well, Pawar said he would restrict himself to his party alone.
"I have not been campaigning in local bodies and civic polls for the last 15 years and will not do so this time as well. But, since Congress and NCPhave decided to accord utmost importance to Mumbai civic polls, I will address joint rallies with Congress," he added.
He said, Congress and NCP will work hard to do well in Mumbai and wrest the country's premier civic body from Shiv Sena-BJP.
When asked if he plans to lend support from his friend (Bal Thackeray) after the election, Pawar said he shared personal friendship with Thackeray. "Both of us do not expect political support from each other," he said.
Pawar said, he expected UPA numbers to go up after theassembly elections in five states.
He denied that there was a lack of co-ordination between Congress and UPA partners. "After the assembly polls, there is a move to have an institutionalised set up for more co-ordination," he added.
Clarifying his remarks on AICC General secretary Rahul Gandhi made during an television interview, Pawar said the comments that Rahul does not take along party leaders from the particular region while on tour, were his observations.
He said while replying to questions on the Gandhi scion that he had complimented him for travelling in Uttar Pradesh to interact with people and also spoken about the new generation team coming up in the Congress party.
Air India or Patel Aviation? Why Praful Patel needs to be axed
R Jagannathan Jan 9, 2012Should Air India, which was financially ruined during the seven-year overlordship of Praful Patel, still be trying to shield Patel's family from scrutiny for alleged misuse of his clout when he was civil aviation minister?
Seems so. In reply to a Right to Information (RTI) Act query, Air India confirmed last week that the airline had indeed changed the aircraft from A319 to A320 for a Bangalore-Male (Maldives) flight in April last year, for "commercial" reasons. But the airline declined to name the passengers who flew on it.
The speculation is that the aircraft was changed to accommodate Patel's daughter, husband and in-laws in an A320, which has business class seats, as opposed to an A319, which doesn't.
According to a report in The Times of India which quotes the RTI reply, the change in aircraft was done "based on commercial requirements depending on the booked load/demand and also due to operational/engineering requirements."
The former civil aviation minister has been widely alleged as having misused his position. Reuters
If this is the only reason for the change in aircraft, Air India should not have any reason to sit tight on the passenger list, especially the business class list. But the airline has cited privacy concerns as a reason for denying this information to RTI activist Subhash Agrawal. It also claimed that the decision to change the aircraft on 25 April 2010 "was taken by the central coordination cell and the decision intimated telephonically to the concerned personnel."That's convenient, since it means any further RTI will not elicit any names, everything being confined to oral instructions. There were no file notings or written instructions.
However, as Firstpost has pointed out before, misuse of official position by Praful Patel's kin has been widely alleged, and these may not be restricted to this one occasion alone.
In fact, just a few days before the Male diversion, The Times of India had reported that a Delhi-Coimbatore Air India flight was aborted because the aircraft was needed to fly a charter for an Indian Premier League (IPL) team. Patel's daughter Poorna Patel, and some IPL players, had to be flown from Chandigarh to Chennai, the newspaper said.
The scheduled flight, IC 7603, was to take off at 5.20 am on 20 April, but the passengers booked on it (and on the return flight) were put on another flight, the Delhi-Mumbai-Coimbatore flight IC 657. They arrived in Coimbatore at 11.45 am. The newspaper said: "Passengers booked on Coimbatore-Delhi flight 7604 were put on a Coimbatore-Mumbai-Delhi flight." Some 75 passengers were inconvenienced due to these changes.
The passengers who were dumped from the scheduled flight to accommodate the IPL team lost three hours in the process. What could be the reason for favouring an IPL team over a scheduled flight? Poorna Patel was a hospitality manager with IPL.
The alleged misuse of Air India by Patel's family members has prompted calls from the media for more detailed investigations and action against Patel.
Business Standard, in an editorial on Monday, said the issue should not be closed with Air India expressing its inability to provide details of who benefited from the aircraft changes: "The matter should not be allowed to rest there. The government itself should conduct an inquiry. Were these flights in fact changed on special instructions? Were the passengers who benefited Mr Patel's family? How many aircraft have been altered in the past if there is a demand for business-class tickets? The answers to those questions should determine whether or not there was misuse of office. Such specific allegations cannot be allowed to go uninvestigated; and if proof is found that rules were bent, Mr Patel should be asked to leave the Union Cabinet."
Firstpost could not agree more. Mr Patel should be shown the door. Shifting him from civil aviation to heavy industries – which is what the government did last year when Air India went into a tailspin — is not good enough.
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/air-india-or-patel-aviation-why-praful-patel-needs-to-be-axed-176168.html
CAG points finger at AI for huge losses under Praful Patel's leadership
FP Staff Aug 7, 2011In the recently tabled report in parliament, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found that AI and erstwhile Indian Airlines lost close to Rs 2,000 crore in large aircraft deals negotiated during UPA-I — "through faulty purchase and bridge loan deals and also avoidable expenses incurred by delay in returning leased planes once new ones started joining the fleet" says The Times of India.
We had written earlier that Praful Patel had virtually destroyed Air India by loading it with debt.Air India has denied the CAG's claim that the defective contracts led to the losses. And predictably, AI also points to Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) as the body that cleared the decisions to buy aircrafts.
The report also says
"The proposal to expand capacity was not warranted in view of intense competition and inability of IAL (Indian Airlines Ltd) to handle competition." The CAG report also hauled up the airline for borrowing from IDBI at a higher rate of interest (11.75%) when it had the option of back stop financing (an arrangement where the airline comes up with a small down payment and the manufacturer covers the rest) at a modest 4% with the supplier, Airbus.
This led to the national carrier suffering a loss of Rs314.66 crore till March, 2010, and "a "loss of Rs 2,459.79 crore would further be incurred in future."
http://www.firstpost.com/business/cag-points-finger-at-ai-for-huge-losses-under-praful-patels-leadership-55697.html
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