'Counterfeit' Chinese parts in 'Made in India' Bofors guns: CBI begins probe
- As per emails exchanged between Sindh Sales Syndicate and Sino United Industries (Luyang) Ltd Henan, China, CBI deciphered that the parts were counterfeit.
- Sindh Sales Syndicate is also alleged to have used counterfeit letterheads of a company in Germany, which did not deal with the part concerned.
- A tender was floated for procurement of four such bearings in which four firms had participated. The order was given to Sidh Sales Syndicate at the value of Rs 35.38 lakh in 2013.
FollowThe Central Bureau of Investigation has initiated a probe into the alleged scam that involves an Indian syndicate and a Chinese company in camouflaging Chinese parts as 'Made in Germany'. The parts were bought for the manufacturing of 155mm Dhanush guns, which is an indigenous version of Bofors guns. Being tipped off from a source information that cheap Chinese parts are being used for the manufacturing of the indigenous guns, the agency has booked a Delhi-based firm Sindh Sales Syndicate and unidentified officers of the Guns Carriage Factory (GCF) for criminal conspiracy, forgery and cheating.
According to the CBI, the syndicate and the GCF officials joined hands to pass the duplicate spare parts (bearings) that are important to manufacture Shanush Guns. The officials are accused of accepting counterfeit parts even when they knew that these were cheap and the quality was not up-to-the-mark. The CBI said that the wire race roller bearing were important were extremely crucial for the production of Dhanush guns.
According to an FIR, a tender was floated for procurement of four such bearings in which four firms had participated. The order was given to Sidh Sales Syndicate at the value of Rs 35.38 lakh in 2013. The order was further increased to six bearings at the cost of Rs 53.07 lakh on August 27, 2014. The company supplied the parts on three different occassions and also provided certificates in original showing that the parts were manufactured in Germany. Later, on the basis of the mails exchanged between the syndicate and Sino United Industries (Luyang) Ltd Henan, China, it was deciphered that both the letterheads on which the certificates were provided from CRB Antriebstechnik, Germany were fake. In fact, even the embossings on the bearings were fake.
Meanwhile, GCF tests showed that the bearings were unacceptable due to deviations in dimensions. The company clarified that in case of non-performance of bearing due to manufacturing defects, they would be replaced free of cost. Incidentally, according to the information gathered by the CBI, it was found that the German company did not manufacture the bearings in question. The FIR said, "The said forged letter and certificate were accepted by unidentified officials of GCF with ulterior motive and by abusing their official positions as such without ascertaining the genuineness of the said letter and certificates. This gave an undue advantage to Sidh Sales Syndicate and resulted in corresponding loss to the Government of India."
