Ex-DG of ordnance board held in arms deal scam

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested the just-retired director-general of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and three of his associates for allegedly fixing several defence deals in favour of foreign suppliers, especially Israel Military Industries.

The Kolkata-based OFB is the corporate headquarters of the Indian Ordnance Factories Organisation, which has 40 ammo manufacturing units under it.

The CBI has found cash, jewellery, and bank accounts worth more than Rs6 crore in the name of Sudipta Ghosh, who retired as director-general of the OFB on April 30.

Among those arrested is Pradeep Rana, a close associate of Sudhir Choudhrie, the arms dealer whose role in the Rs10,000 crore medium-range surface-to-air missile (MRSAM) deal was exposed by DNA.

The deal was signed with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) on the eve of the general election despite unfavourable legal opinion and without competitive bidding, accepting an unusual 6%, or Rs600 crore, as business charges.

Today’s arrests corroborate DNA’s probe showing the grip Choudhrie, an NRI from London, has over defence procurement in India. Choudhrie is the agent for most Israeli and Russian arms firms operating in India.

While the CBI arrested Ghosh and his associate Kanai Lal Dass from Kolkata, Rana and Aashish Bose were picked up in Delhi. Rana is the adviser to IMI in India. Bose’s exact role in the scam is, as yet, unclear.  

The agency is raiding several premises in both cities as the lid comes off the dirty world of arms dealers and their links at the highest echelons of India’s defence establishment.
During his tenure, Ghosh had aggressively pushed for several joint ventures with Israeli firms. The last big deal was for IMI to set up a massive ordnance factory complex in Nalanda, Bihar, at Rs1,200 crore for making Bofors ammunition.

During his tenure as OFB director-general from May 2007 to April 2009, the CBI said Ghosh had entered “into a criminal conspiracy” with a “private person and other accused” to demand and obtain “huge illegal gratification” for supply orders placed by the board to “private manufactures/suppliers, including a foreign supplier” and for transfers and postings.

The CBI has recovered details of a bank account in Singapore in the name of Ghosh containing $999,997 or Rs4.76 crore. The details of the account, with RBS Coutts Bank, were recovered from the residence of Ramesh Nambiar, an additional general manager of Air India, who has close ties with several foreign military equipment suppliers. The CBI also recovered Rs22.92 lakh from Nambiar’s residence.

Besides the Singapore bank account, the CBI has found evidence of massive amounts of money and properties in the name of Ghosh and his family.

From Ghosh’s house in Kolkata, the CBI recovered Rs87 lakh in cash, $10,000, National Savings Certificates worth Rs13.85 lakh, details of monthly income schemes worth Rs22.78 lakh, and jewellery worth Rs23.74 lakh. The CBI also recovered British pounds, euro, and other foreign currencies from his home.

From the premises of Kanai Lal Dass, the agency recovered details of bank accounts containing around Rs80 lakh.

In New Delhi, the agency recovered Rs47.70 lakh from Aashish Bose and Rs45 lakh and $5,000, or Rs2.4 lakh, from Pradeep Rana.