India Intelligence Report
 
Defense Minister Defends Scorpene Deal
 

Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee issued a statement in the Parliament defending the Scorpene deal. Mukherjee said that the deal was concluded during the reign of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government, which could not close the deal because of the elections.

Pointing out inaccuracies in the Outlook expose and NDA's accusation from yesterday, Mukherjee clarified that the deal was worth USD 1.7 billion and not USD 4.5 billion. He denied his Government had paid an extra USD 1 billion for the deal or that it was related to the Navy War Room leak scandal. However, he said that about USD 800 million is budgeted for taxes and another USD 500 million for other items but did not specify what the taxes are for or what these other items are meant for. Another Public Sector company was given a contract for USD 1.4 billion, which comes close to USD 4 billion for the whole deal when only USD 1.7 billion was paid for the Scorpene submarines.

 

He insisted that the Government had sent rejoinders to the magazine pointing out inaccuracies in their story. He also pointed out that another French company had denied similar accusations and claimed that the emails printed by the magazine were fabricated.

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