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Publish Date : 19-May-2016

The Ministry of Defence (MoD), Government of India, has started investigation into the countrys procurement of two fleet tankers from Fincantieri of Italy in 2009 under the UPA Government led by the Indian National Congress (INC).

An official from the MoD has disclosed that the investigation has been launched in response to a complaint filed by an anonymous Indian Navy official.

In his complaint, the Indian Navy official has made allegation that the tender to buy the tankers was manipulated so that a single vendor situation in support of Fincantieri can be created.

The Italian shipbuilder was awarded an order worth $300 million in the year 2009 to deliver two fleet tankers to the Indian Navy.

The Indian Navy in 2005 had issued global tender to procure the tanker pair for the Indian Naval force. Shipbuilders from Russia, South Korea and Italy had also offered their bids to secure this deal.

Use of better-quality military-grade steel for the manufacturing of the hull of the tankers was among the key conditions of this global tender.

The petitioner has also alleged that the obligation was relaxed for Fincantieri following elimination of the other participants in technical assessment so that the contract can be awarded on a single-vendor basis to the Italian firm, revealed the MoD official.

The petitioner had also claimed that the INS Deepak, one of the Italian-built tankers, was deployed to escort the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya from Russia to India in December 2013. But, it had developed two four-inch cracks in the upper structure, quite strange affair for a brand new fleet tanker, due to incremental weather conditions at high seas close to Lisbon.

After that, INS Deepak was towed to the Lisbon harbor for crucial repair works.

With reference to the 2010 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, the MoD official has revealed that the fleet tankers, being built by a "foreign vendor", have failed to meet the specifications related to the steel as specified in the request for proposals.

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