Coffingate: CBI nails US national, army men

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has laid bare the 'Coffingate" conspiracy -- the purchase of overpriced, substandard coffins and body bags for Indian soldiers who died on the battlefield.

The scandal had embarrassed the military and outraged the nation in 2002. Though the amount involved was small, it damaged the reputation of the NDA government, then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then defence minister George Fernandes.

The CBI has charge-sheeted three Indian army officials -- retired Major General Arun Roye, then Indian military attache in Washington; retired Colonel SK Malik, then posted with the Master General of Ordnance (MGO); and Colonel FB Singh, then posted with MGO -- and US national Victor Baiza, who supplied the aluminum caskets and body bags to the Indian army.

The ministry of defence (MOD) had imported the substandard caskets and body bags in 1999-2000 at the exorbitant rate of over Rs125,000 per casket and for Rs4.250 per body bag. The CBI said the Indian government suffered a loss of Rs89.76 lakh due to excessive payments.

The CBI registered its charge-sheet in a Delhi court last week, after it registered a case on June 28, 2006. This is perhaps the first time that a US national has been charge-sheeted in a defence scam.

Investigations established that Arun Roye "dishonestly did not explore any other manufacturer of aluminum caskets and body bags in USA and merely referred again to the offer/quotation given by Baiza and forwarded the same to MGO branch."

The CBI also noted that the accused army officials showed undue haste before the Kargil war broke out.

"Investigations revealed that on March 10, 1999 (without waiting for approval of the concerned authority) Col SK Malik forwarded the tender enquiry to Victor Baiza for quoting the rate of his firm.

The act of Malik and FB Singh was an undue favour extended to Victor Baiza especially when viewed in the context that on March 10, 1999, there was no emergency because the Kargil war had not started."

The CBI noted that there were other manufacturers of aluminum caskets but Malik and Singh ignored them. Further, in 2007, US officials confirmed that Baiza was not a manufacturer of aluminum caskets. "It has been established that Baiza was a mortician and the aluminum caskets supplied by him were purchased from one Ronald Connelly, general manager of Dayton Manufacturing.

He purchased these caskets at $1,559 per casket and supplied the same to the Indian army for $2,500, (a whopping profit of $1,000 per piece)," the CBI stated in its charge-sheet.