I was offered Rs14-cr bribe, says Army chief Singh

Army commander-in-chief Gen V K Singh has launched another bombshell today, claiming that he was offered a Rs14 crore bribe to clear the purchase of vehicles for the forces.

In an interview to a leading English daily, Gen Singh said that he was offered the bribe by an equipment lobbyist to have a tranche of 600 sub-standard vehicles cleared for purchase. He further said 7,000 of these sub-standard vehicles are already in use in the Army, having been sold over the years at exorbitant prices. Moreover, the manufacturer created no proper facility for the servicing and maintenance of the vehicles.

"One of these men had the gumption to walk up to me and tell me that if I cleared the tranche, he would give me Rs14 crore. He was offering a bribe to me, to the Army chief. He told me that people had taken money before me and they will take money after me."

He said that he reported the incident to defence minister A K Antony.

When asked how the Army chief could be offered a bribe, he said, "Obviously somewhere our standards of probity and integrity have fallen."

On the battle over his date of birth, which he recently lost in the Supreme Court, Gen Singh said he had been targeted as he had cracked down on corruption in the Army. "Things are fast unravelling and you will soon see the hand behind the drama. You will soon see who the sutradhar (author) of the play is."