Guns for his sons

Guess what was one of the first decisions taken in the Finance Ministry after Jaswant Singh took charge on July 1? To allow his two sons Man...

Guess what was one of the first decisions taken in the Finance Ministry after Jaswant Singh took charge on July 1? To allow his two sons Manvendra Singh and Bhupendra Singh to get a 8216;8216;prohibited bore weapon8217;8217; each from the confiscated stock of the Customs department.

This despite the fact that both the sons, who citing 8216;8216;threat perception8217;8217; had got licences from the Home Ministry in February, had their applications rejected8212;twice.

Once by the Commerce Ministry8217;s Directorate General of Foreign Trade which said they could not get the gun from abroad because of a 8216;8216;ban on the import of firearms.8217;8217;

And the second time, by the Home Ministry which clearly stated that 8216;8216;prohibited bore weapons confiscated/seized by the Government agencies are not for sale for the use of civilians as per policy of the Government8230;You are requested to contact authorised arms dealers only for the purchase of the said weapon.8217;8217;

This rejection came on July 4 and the very next day, four days after their father took charge as Union Finance Minister, the sons re-applied to M K Zutshi, Chairman of the Central Board of Excise Customs CBEC.

In six days, they got the clearance.

While Manvendra Singh has collected a German-made Walther P99 pistol Serial Number 007355 from the Customs godown in New Delhi and paid Rs 80,7928212;the market rate, according to an authorised arms dealer is around Rs 3 lakh8212;his brother is said to be waiting for a 8216;8216;model of his choice.8217;8217;

When contacted by The Sunday Express, the Finance Minister8217;s private secretary V Srinivas said: 8216;8216;No rules have been broken. Arms can be issued to anybody who has an authorised licence.8217;8217;

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However, an investigation by The Sunday Express and documents sent by the Finance Minister8217;s office show that the allotment of the guns not only contradicts established norms, it also raises questions regarding the Finance Ministry8217;s discretionary powers.

For, according to officials who dealt with this case and did not wish to be named, prohibited bore weapons are issued from the Customs-seized armoury only to Members of Parliament and Customs officials after 8216;8216;special permission8217;8217; to be returned on retirement.

Manvendra Singh, who lost the Lok Sabha election from Barmer constituency in 1999, is at present a Major with the Territorial Army while Bhupinder Singh is a hotelier.

8216;BOTH UNDER HIGH
TERRORIST THREAT8217;

8216;Applications initiated before Jaswant came8217;
V. Srinivas, Private Secretary to the Finance Minister: Both are under high terrorist threat8230;There is no question of breach of propriety or conflict of interest. Their applications were initiated before Jaswant Singh became Finance Minister. They have received no concession in the price. No procedure or law has been violated.

8216;We have done the department a favour8217;
Manvendra Singh, son of Jaswant Singh: There was a threat perception against my brother and me after the December 13 attack and hence we made an application to the former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha several months ago but there was no reply from him. Fact: he applied to Sinha on June 25, five days before the Cabinet reshuffle which brought Jaswant Singh as Finance Minister. So we applied again8230;We have done a favour to the department: first, we have not taken a Personal Security Officer PSO and hence saved Govt money and second, we bought this at the market price and helped sale of guns in the Customs godown which were otherwise lying waste.

8216;8216;The Finance Minister can use his discretion to allot weapons in exceptional cases,8217;8217; a top official said, adding that 8216;8216;these are however in the rarest of rare cases.8217;8217; Consider the facts of this 8216;8216;rarest of rare8217;8217; case:

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8226; March 16, 2002: Both sons apply to the DGFT citing their 8216;8216;threat perception8217;8217; seeking permission to import a .9mm pistol since 8216;8216;unfortunately, the desired type weapon is not available in Indian market.8217;8217;

8226; May 1: The DGFT rejects the request 8216;8216;keeping in view that a ban has already been imposed on the import of fire-arms from abroad.8217;8217;

8226; June 25: Manvendra Singh writes to Yashwant Sinha, the then Finance Minister, asking for permission to purchase the weapon 8216;8216;from the Department of Customs which in any case they will not be able to off-load.8217;8217;

8226; July 1: Jaswant Singh takes charge as Finance Minister.

8226; July 4: The Home Ministry, where they had also applied on June 3, rejects the request saying civilians can8217;t buy prohibited bore weapons seized by any Government agency.

8226; July 5: Both sons apply to the Chairman, CBEC.

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8226; July 11: The Anti-Smuggling wing of the Finance Ministry clears the sale of these weapons via a letter File No. 711/35/2002-CusAS.

The address on each is 15, Teen Murti Lane, the official residence of the Finance Minister.

8226; August 13: Manvendra Singh picks up a German-made Walther P.99 9 X 19 mm pistol. with Amitav Ranjan