CAG indictment adds to Kapil Sibal troubles

After a series of scams that has hit the UPA government, it now seems to be bracing for yet another controversy. This, the minister in the eye of the storm is telecom minister Kapil Sibal.

The CAG’s Washington division has found that when Sibal was holding the science and technology portfolio, his ministry “favoured” a US-based firm his “dream project” of creating a database for over 5 lakh working professionals of People of Indian Origin settled in the US (PIOUS). The CAG’s report is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament in the ensuing monsoon session.

The report claims that Sibal’s ministry “overlooked rules and regulations” and “handpicked” M/s Phoenix Rose LLC, Maryland for the job, in violation of the “General Finance Rules”. The project’s cost was $1,20,000. But, three years after the initiation, the company has dumped the networking site, completing just over 16% of the targeted work.

Sibal may have to now answer why most of the project payment was “released” even before completion of the first phase. Payments were made in “three installments of $25,000, $26,200 and $38,800, in February, August and December, 2007 respectively”. The vendor, however, collected data of “only 3,300 professionals” against the “targeted 20,000” for the first phase. And profiles of “only eight associations” were included in the database, against a list of “200 associations” identified. Despite the failures of the firm in meeting its first phase targets, the CAG notes, the department of science and technology sanctioned implementation of the second phase at a cost of $30,000.

The principal director for audit at the India embassy in Washington has noted in the report that “unfruitful expenditure and undue favour was given to the vendor”.

The project was initiated by Dr KC Dwivedi, the then science counselor in the Indian embassy in Washington DC in October 2006. The go ahead was, however, given by “the minister of science and technology,” the CAG has noted in its report.

A CAG official said: “Dwevedi has made it clear that the then minister of science and technology (Sibal) had taken the decision to select the company for the project at his level during his visit to the US. The decision was not unanimous.’’

Sibal could not be contacted despite repeated efforts by DNA for his response to CAG’s allegations.