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Journalism of Courage
Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday told Parliament that a special audit had been ordered into all procurement contracts that were signed by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) under the chairmanship of Sudipta Ghosh who has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for corruption.
While the CBI is investigating all deals signed by Ghosh and has named seven defence companies in the FIR,the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has been asked to conduct a special audit by the ministry,Antony said.
Antony reiterated that procurement and acquisition cases with all seven companies that have been named are on hold for the present. Figures placed before the House by the minister reveal that the deals of the highest value that are on hold were with the Israeli military industries.
Answering another question,the minister said Indias first indigenous aircraft carrier that is currently under production in Kochi is likely to be launched by 2010 while its final delivery to the Navy will be in 2014. The launch of the indigenous carrier will come one year after the launch of Indias first indigenous nuclear submarine that took place on Sunday.
On the issue of crashes involving MiG series aircraft,the minister said a total of 32 of the Russian origin aircraft met with accidents in the past five years and the Air Force lost eight pilots to these accidents.
