|
-19-
TEHELKA: Okay.
LT.COL. BERRY: And this is another company which is….
The shoulder-fired anti-tank this thing Carl Gustav for 85
crores.
TEHELKA: Carl Gustav?
LT.COL. BERRY: Yeah. From Sweden.
TEHELKA: When was this?
LT.COL. BERRY: That was long back. Because he has been
in this line for quite some time. From here, there…you know.
And then Quartain of Australia. This was a small one. Five
million radio sets were there. That he did. Then SG…SGT Sweden.
NSG rifles for 15 crores. So basically, you know, 10, 15,
85, 100 and…
TEHELKA (interrupts): NSG was sniper rifles?
LT.COL. BERRY: Yeah.
Of
course, things wouldn't be complete if Major Singh himself
didn't enumerate
a bit more on his various deals. Here, he too is trying
to sell himself
to the President of West End, Alvin D'Souza. |
TEHELKA: Okay, which are the…I mean if you can just
give me a brief summary of the deals you have done or something...something
which…
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Recent one is Krasnopol, which is
a smart ammunition from Russia.
TEHELKA: Okay.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Worth 150 crores.
TEHELKA: Okay.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Then there is…
TEHELKA (asking Berry): That was worth about
200 crores, is it?
LT.COL. BERRY: There is another one. This is 150 crores.
TEHELKA: Okay.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Then the other one is Cornetti. Again
everything…this was handled by me.
TEHELKA: Cornetti?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Cornetti.
TEHELKA: This is Italian? What was this?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Ammunition again. Cornetti. This is
again Russian, not Italian.
TEHELKA: Okay. What kind of smart ammunition is this?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: These are all guided…laser guided
bombing systems.
TEHELKA: For?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: For bunker breaking and…
TEHELKA: Okay.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: So that is again…that is…
TEHELKA: Indian…
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: That again has been done by me. This
was very recent.
TEHELKA: Okay.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Today I have closed just now an hour
ago…
[Tehelka claps his hands]
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: …another deal of PCO…265 crores.
TEHELKA: Of?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: PCO. That is Polish company. Poland.
Of supplying the…. This is a what you call a thermal image
camera and II tubes for the tanks.
TEHELKA: This is the II tubes?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Not only for…
TEHELKA: Yeah, okay, I got it, for the tanks.
[Singh nods]
TEHELKA: What was the PCO order like? How many pieces?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: 266, to start with. Another order
which we'll get is 200.
LT.COL. BERRY: This is with the fire petro system included.
TEHELKA: Okay. How much is it worth…total?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Total 265 crores.
TEHELKA: About 15 million dollars….
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: But they will get another 100, say
about 70-75 million dollars more.
TEHELKA: So who are the companies bidding for this?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: PCO is the final company which came
here.
TEHELKA: How many were short-listed?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: There were basically three companies.
And out of that three, there were none good. For the last
four years they were on the run. They couldn't get it till
such time that…
TEHELKA: …joined hands with you?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Joined hands with me in July. And
from July till now I have been able to do it. Four years they
tried, knocked their heads, but they couldn't.
TEHELKA: What was it worth in terms of paying off and
all?
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: These are the things I never discuss.
TEHELKA: Okay.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Because these are individual matters…
*
* *
Major
Singh emphasises the importance of the trial evaluation
report
of the ultimate product. Says he, "If the end user says
it is unfit
for the Army's use, who are you to say that you are good?" |
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Because as I…to start with I mentioned
to you the grassroots level, you have to take care. Then you
have to take care of middle levels. For example, this item
of yours…it is…the trials are carried out at different levels.
Now the most important agency in this becomes the trial report.
TEHELKA: Okay.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: That is their…. Of course, many other
factors are there. But the most important technical factor
is your trial report. Now if you do not take care at the trial
level, whatever connections you may have, you'll never go
through.
TEHELKA: Okay.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: I guarantee that.
TEHELKA: Which is basically, they say that you are
sub-standard, then you're sub-standard.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: Not sub-standard. If the end user
says it is unfit for our use, who are you to say that you
are good?
TEHELKA: Okay.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: I am the end user. And if I have to
trial, then I have to say and certify that okay this meets
my QR or it meets my requirement. Only then it is worth going
further. Further negotiations will only take place once the
basics are cleared.
TEHELKA: Okay.
MAJ. S.J. SINGH: So that is one stage which is a very,
very important stage. And that is from where short-listing
takes place. Because there will be more than one item or offer
to be tested. And now, on a small thing, he can say very clearly,
"Yes, fine. Everything is good, good, good. But this is not
so-and-so like so-and-so." That's it. You are out. So that
so-and-so is now the qualifying mark.
|
