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-17-
MOHINDER PAL SAHNI: We want to beat them.
[Someone knocks on the door and Sahni talks to him]
TEHELKA: Then can you…can you…sir, we can work out
Bangaru line also.
MOHINDER PAL SAHNI: I can. Hundred per cent. Not even
ninety-nine. Let's not talk blah-blah. We should work…if tomorrow
we fail even in the technical end…
TEHELKA: Hmm.
MOHINDER PAL SAHNI: …there is no use talking to Bangaru.
TEHELKA: Yeah. Okay.
MOHINDER PAL SAHNI: I have to make a full case, draft
a letter, make a note…why you should be taken.
TEHELKA: Okay, hmm.
MOHINDER PAL SAHNI: If he speaks…
TEHELKA: Hmm.
MOHINDER PAL SAHNI: ...and he coins
TEHELKA: Hmm
MOHINDER PAL SAHNI: …that tomorrow the note comes from
the ministry.
TEHELKA: Hmm
MOHINDER PAL SAHNI: …that "Nothing doing, these products
are better," you are out.
TEHELKA: Okay.
MOHINDER PAL SAHNI: Let me first say why you…I should
be entertained.
TEHELKA: Hmm.
MOHINDER PAL SAHNI: Then Bangaru line is hundred per
cent.
TEHELKA: Okay.
MOHINDER PAL SAHNI: I have to prepare a note. On the
paper I should be Napolean.
TEHELKA: Okay, okay.
Meanwhile, Colonel Berry is showing some entrepreneural
spirit. He brings
Major S.J. Singh (Retd.) to meet West End in a five-star
hotel hoping to take away a client from Mohinder Singh
Sahni. Major Singh is a smooth customer.
He was involved with Bofors in the beginning in its deals
in India around the
time that the company acquired its notorious reputation.
Major Singh makes
a very interesting arms dealer. He starts off very colourfully.
He has no
qualms about calling himself a 'fixer'. In the beginning
he states how he
got a laser-guided bomb, which failed 5 tests out of 6,
cleared. |
TEHELKA: Sir, I met you that day.
MAJOR S.J. SINGH: Yes, we hardly spoke to each other. I was
only listening and not speaking out.
TEHELKA: Okay, okay. Sir, where are you staying in
Delhi?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: I stay in Gurgaon. DLF.
LT. COL. BERRY: He'll be able to handle the whole thing.
You have the choices. You can ask him whatever you want to
ask for that.
TEHELKA: Sir, recently you've done any big deal.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: I keep doing for others. I am, basically,
you can call me a fixer. I will use a very crude word but
that is what it is. Okay? Like when you are in trouble you
come to me and I sort you out…your problem. When he is in
trouble, he comes to me and then I have my friends at different
levels. I have friends in the ministry, the bureaucracy, I
have friends in the ministry, the politics side. I have my
friends in the defence services whether it is army, navy,
air force. And then I have friends at the junior level which
give you information. So that's how things work…the last work
where we met last time I did for him.
TEHELKA: For Mr. Sahni.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Yeah, there was a deal of Krasnopol.
That was one 50 crore deal I…. It was organised by me. I got
everything sorted out. It was fixed up
TEHELKA: In the Defence?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: In the defence. I am talking in the
defence. It was a Russian missile. Bomb. This is laser-guided
bomb. It was not being cleared and…
TEHELKA: Due to what?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Various reasons. Firstly, out of six
tests, it was only one test which was successful. Five test
failures. Then the bureaucracy was not at all in favour of
it. They were totally against it inspite of pressure from
some angles. So these were the various reasons and there were
options available to them from French people, from Germany,
but, ultimately, we were able to push it through as for the
Russian…and now it is a repeat order.
TEHELKA: This is called smart ammunition something?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Yeah.
TEHELKA: Same thing.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Krasnopol is the name of the bomb.
TEHELKA: The bomb will go around 14 lakhs.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: The total deal was of 5,000. It was
150 crores. Now the fresh order will be again. There are lot
of problems, but again because of my friend…because this is
being used by the artillery.
TEHELKA: This will be used for the Bofors.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Various guns…so it depends on the
charge now…Another bomb which is being propagated.
TEHELKA: Same American company?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: No, no, one is Krasnopol…is Russian.
The other is from South Africa. Now the South Africans are
pushing it through their agent. So my job is not only to block
that, but to see that the repeat order is given. Now we are
waiting for the terms to be cleared as to whether if I do
this job how much will you give me. If that understanding
takes place we will clear this project. If it doesn't take
place, someone else will take it. It is as simple as that…mathematics
is very simple.
|
Major Singh reveals his relationship with Sahni, boasts
of his relationship with a friend who is 'the head of
the set up' today. He boasts about how he got a defence
job cleared by his friend in three days. |
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: May I tell you something. I am not
employee of Mr. Sahni. Number 1. Number 2, we met to be associate
of each other.
TEHELKA: In the ammunition business?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Yeah, from project to project. And
I was introduced to him by a common friend. I had gone to
my common friend for a diifferent job and in the due course
of the conversation, he found out my connections in the ministry.
He mentioned something and I said, "I can help you out if
you want," without knowing what he was meaning. Immediately
he jumped on the conclusion and he rung up Sahni…friend of
mine. I would like you to meet anyway. That was an introduction.
We came to understand. He met me two or three times. I wanted
to know the person because it's not good to jump into anything
without knowing the person with whom you are going to deal.
And ultimately, on the third day, he again invited me and
he said, "Would you like to join hands? On what terms? Because
I would like you to work with us." I said, "No, I am not looking
for a job. I am self-employed. I am holding three companies.
I am managing director of two companies, chairman of three
companies, so I don't need to look for a job and my companies
are 25 years old. Not today."
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: So that's how we got into…and he said,
"This is my job to be done" and he had tried this through
many people and he was unable to get that job done.
TEHELKA: Which one? The smart ammunition?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Now the particular bureaucrat he wanted
to reach, he could not reach. He tried his best and those
people were kicked out from there. Now this bureaucrat is
an old friend of mine for last 15 years. Okay? Who is now
the head of the set-up.
TEHELKA: He is the Defence Secretary?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Anyway.
TEHELKA: It is excellent!
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Okay. Now he is a friend of mine.
So I said, okay. I asked him, "This is the job to be done.
Can you do it?" So he laughed and said, "Now the bastard has
caught hold of you…" He used this word. I said, "Why are you
calling…?" He said he tried his best and I have kicked out
everyone. I have not allowed anyone to talk to me. So I said,
"Forget about it. What you have done, you tell me now. This
is the job that is to be done." So he said, "Okay, you want
me to help you." I said, "When you said you want to help me,
so yes this is what I want." He said, "Okay, let me see, and
give me three days." On the third day we got everything cleared.
Three days' time.
|
Major Singh's own background is intriguing. In his own
words. |
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