CVC asks officials to make submissions

Stating that early comments and suggestions would be appreciated, the Commission statement said "serving officers in the defence forces may give their observations after informing their immediate superiors so that there is no violation of the conduct rules".

The CVC has directed that written submissions should be sent to the Commission secretary, S N P N Sinha. The CVC investigation would cover the allegations of presence of agents in all identified major defence procurement decisions since 1985-86 after the then government had taken a decision abolishing the role of middlemen, the statement said.

The investigation would cover all details pertaining to specific instances cited in the course of discussions in Parliament and allegations levelled in the writ petition in Delhi High Court on the purchase of spares for the Navy for over a decade.

"While the CVC investigations will cover specific cases that have been referred to by the Ministry of Defence, many people may have information and ideas about specific instances covered by the CVC investigations, which they may like to bring to the notice of the CVC," the Commission statement said.The statement made it clear the submissions could lead to the present system of defence procurement being reviewed and improved in order to plug loopholes and weak points.

The CVC statement apparently signalled that the Commission has started its probe into the major defence deals since 1985-86 which include the staggering Rs 6,330 crore deal for purchase of SU-30 multi-role jet fighters from Russia and purchase of MIG-29 aircraft and Mirage 2,000 jets from France.

The other major deals likely to come under joint CVC-Central Bureau of Investigation and Comptroller and Auditor General probe would include purchase of warships and spares worth billions of dollars from Russia.