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The Union Defence Ministry on Friday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged payoffs by state-owned South African armament company Denel to a British agent to secure an Indian rifles contract during the erstwhile National Democratic Alliance regime in 2003.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the CBI had been asked to investigate if any middlemen were involved in clinching the Rs 20-crore Denel deal.
He said no middleman was permitted to be involved in any defence deal under Indian rules. The CBI would look into if this norm had been violated.
The government had on Thursday handed over files pertaining to dealings with arms major Denel during the tenure of then defence minister George Fernandes to the CBI to find out whether there was any maladfide intent in the purchase.
Under the deal, involving 1,200 bunker-bursting rifles and ammunitions, Denel supplied 300 weapons and another 300 were in the pipeline.
Ministry sources said the Comptroller and Auditor General found that the rifles did not conform to qualitative requirement and were also delivered six months schedule.
Under attack, George Fernandes charged the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty with vendetta.