Indian Bureaucrats steal the show- display after five months

Corrupt bureaucrats being probed: PMO, Mukherjee
New Delhi, Oct 13: The government on Tuesday said that a probe has been ordered into corruption charges against the bureaucrats after the Indian envoy to US, Meera Shankar, said in a letter dated 12 May 2009, that they were bribed by US firms.

The Prime Minister's Office said the letter of Indian Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, dated May 12, reached the office when the country was in the midst of Lok Sabha polls.

"As soon as the government settled down, a probe was ordered. Everything in the case is being looked into," the PMO said

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also said that the matter was being looked into, even as former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda said that the corruption charges against him were baseless and that he was ready to face an inquiry.

Reacting to Meera Shankar's letter, External Affairs Minsiter SM Krishna said, "Meera Shankar has filed a report as our ambassadors often do. We will look into the matter."

According to Shankar's letter to the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary T K A Nair, prominent Indian organisations which received funds include Maharashtra State Electricity Board (which got payments from Mario Covino of Control Companies), Indian Railways (by Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation) and Central Insecticides Board (by Dow Chemicals).

The US companies have been booked under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of the US, according to the letter.

The BJP had yesterday released Shankar's letter and questioned the government's silence on the matter saying it "amounts to shielding the corrupt.

Expressing concern over the development, the CPI(M) today asked the government to take firm action against persons who allegedly took bribes and blacklisted all US firms involved in it.

The PMO said that the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has been ordered to look into the matter. The DoPT has also been asked to co-ordinate with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Shankar has also cited a bribe of Rs.61 lakhs given to Indian Navy officials by an agent of York International Corporation. The global provider of heating, air conditioning and refrigeration products has admitted to the transaction. The money was transferred over a period of six years between 2000 and 2006 for placing over two hundred orders.

Indian Navy sources, however, denied any information on Meera's letter.

"The Navy was not informed about the letter. The navy got to know about it today from the newspapers. We are waiting for an official memorandum from the government and then, we will begin our internal investigations. Upto today, there has not been any intimation from either the government or the Central Bureau of Investigation," the Times Now TV channel quoted Navy sources, as saying.

The Mumbai based DE- Nocil Protection - a subsidiary of Dow Cemicals has admitted to paying about a crore to an official in India's Central Insecticides Board to expedite the registration of three of its products.

The Maharashtra State Electricity board has also allegedly received over four crores in bribes. Mario Covino - an American firm which makes valves has also admitted to the pay-offs.

Indian Railway Employees are also under the scanner. Pioneer Friction Limited has also admitted to making payments of 63-lakh rupees. (ANI with inputs) ANI
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Refrigerating the Indian Navy
Shankar informed the PMO that from 2001 to 2006, various subsidiaries of York International Corporation, a global provider of heating, airconditioning and refrigeration products, made improper payments totalling over $7.5 million to secure orders in the Middle East, China, Nigeria, Europe and India. York's Indian subsidiary retained an agent to assist in securing after-installation services contract and to provide sales and marketing support in connection with equipment sold to the Indian Navy. “An employee of the agent admitted to making routine payments to the Indian Navy officials to secure business for York between 2000 and 2006. Payments were typically less than $1,000, but over time amounted to approximately $1,32,500 on 215 orders,” Shankar wrote
US firms involved in bribery: Indian envoy

Citizens Voice
Politicians in India have to face the elections once every 5 years. But they get all the brickbats. The bureaucrats have job security. They mislead politicians to further their own interests. But no one criticises them. Good that truth is out at last about our bureaucracy.
The bureaucracy in India is an endemic cancer affecting the lives of Indians and it has been cultivated over several decades since Independence. Millions of corrupt politicians and greedy Government employees, seeking bribes from the people even for the smallest of services expected of them, depend on the System to gain wealth and power. Trying to cleanse and remove this malignancy from Indian governance, will result in the collapse and demise of the government operations and ultimately end in civil anarchy. This cancer in India is inoperable.
Can anyone name any profession in India which is upholding high moral standard and efficient (in international standard)? It’s not only bureaucracy but almost any profession that is affected by all round corruption. Now consider who is more attracted to bureaucracy like professions of IAS, IPS etc? It’s those students who have witnessed the highest crime and corruptions in public life, i.e students from Bihar, UP, Delhi etc. Do you expect any sense of justice and accountability from such people who have joined bureaucracy mainly to take bribe and flaunt his/ her power among weaker sections of the society? That’s the only thing s/he learned form his/ her very childhood. Bureaucrats are not falling from the sky but coming from the same rotten society that supplies politicians, police, professors, scientists, lawyers, judges and so forth. We need to chant and recite mantras in the names of these corrupt bureaucrats if ever they are exposed by the media!