I was offered Rs 14 crore bribe: Army Chief General VK Singh

Startling revelations came from the Indian Army Chief. General VK Singh said that he was offered a bribe worth Rs 14 crore by an equipment lobbyist in order to have a tranche of 600 sub-standard vehicles of a particular made cleared for purchase.

General Singh also said that 7,000 of those of which were already in use in the Army had been sold over the years at exorbitant prices.

In an interview to national daily 'The Hindu' General Singh said, "One of these men had the gumption to walk up to me and tell me that if I cleared the tranche, he would give me Rs 14 crore. He was offering a bribe to me, to the Army Chief. He told me that people had taken money before me and they will take money after me."

He also said that he reported the incident to Defence Minister AK Antony.

When asked how the Army Chief could be offered a bribe, he said, "Obviously somewhere our standards of probity and integrity have fallen."

The Army Chief, who recently lost his date of birth battle, said, he was targeted as he cracked down on corruption in the Army. "Things are fast unravelling and you will soon see the hand behind the drama. You will soon see who the sutradhar of the play is."

Reacting to the Army Chief's comments, Major General (Retd) Satbir Singh said, "It is a matter that needs to be gone into in detail. If this information was given to the Defence Minister and no action was taken then this is a serious matter." (IBNLive)