Corruption in Indian Army

Indian Army has been rocked by Multiple Mega Corruption Scandals, which have raised concerns about the integrity and effectiveness of the institution. Indian Army deep-rooted corruption comprised by “Patronage of High Rank Officers” and linkage with “corrupt politicians”. Bribery, embezzlement in defense procurement, housing societies and theft of money from ration suppliers are routine matters for them. These corruption cases in the army have been widely reported on all platforms of media and have raised concerns about the integrity of the institution. An Indian newspaper The Print, revealed a total of 1,080 cases of alleged corruption involving armed forces personnel was reported since 2010. Responding to a question, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said Indian Army topping the list of corruption cases with 1,046 , Indian Air Force reported 29 and Indian Navy Reported the five Corruption cases. According to Indian Express, in Adrash Housing Society Illegal allocation of apartments meant for war heroes to politicians, bureaucrats, and military officials. The building in Mumbai was expanded from six to 31 storeys, with apartments allegedly bought at reduced prices through proxies. Investigations implicated several individuals, including the Chief Minister, bureaucrats and several senior military officers, including two former Army Chiefs, General Deepak Kapoor and General N.C. Vij were also booked in land embezzlement scam. Another scam was highlighted by India Today and NDTV on Defence Procurement in which 80-year-old retired major general has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in a bribery case linked to a 2001 sting operation by tehelka news portal. The court noted that corruption in the indian army undermines public confidence and called for appropriate punishment. The major general was convicted under the prevention of corruption act for accepting a bribe in a defense procurement matter. THE HINDU news exposed the recruitment scam unveiled by CBI at 30 locations in 13 cities linked with SSB Recruitment in Indian Army. The case involves 17 Army officers and personnel, including Lieutenant Colonels and Majors, who are accused of receiving bribes for the selection of officers and other ranks through the Service Selection Board (SSB). The searches were conducted based on a complaint from the Defence Ministry’s Integrated Headquarters. The report was widely broadcasted by all news channels including NDTV where a retired Lieutenant General SK Sahni has been sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment by a court martial in expired ration scam. He was found guilty of irregularities in procuring rations for soldiers, including providing expired food items. This is the first time a Lieutenant General has been jailed. The Economic Time reported another mega corruption scandal of VVIP chopper scam is a corruption case where it has been alleged that bribes were paid to “middlemen”, perhaps even politicians, when India agreed to buy 12 AgustaWestland helicopters built by Italian defence manufacturing giant Finmeccanica at an estimated cost of Rs 3,600 crore. According to NDTV, CBI had lodged the case on the basis of inputs received by it that some serving officers at the Western Headquarters of the Navy, working on retrofitting Russian Kilo-class submarines, were allegedly influenced by retired officers. The CBI took Commander Ajeet Kumar Pandey into custody and during the searches recovered INR 2.4 crore of corruption money.   India Today unveiled, a retired Lieutenant General was convicted for misuse of government funds meant for the institutions under him for buying air conditioners, furniture and other things for his personal use in an unauthorized manner.India Express revealed that CBI has booked five Army personnel, including a colonel, for allegedly receiving bribes worth Rs 18 lakh from a supplier of rations for troops posted in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. A shocking revelation by DW News India’s army chief General VK Singh was offered a hefty bribe by a lobbyist to approve a procurement deal. The bombshell forced the government to institute a high-level inquiry to probe into whether a serving general was indeed offered a bribe to clear the purchase of substandard vehicles. The Diplomat Reported that several soldiers in the Indian army and paramilitary forces have come out on social media to voice their concerns regarding the harsh conditions and poor facilities they are subjected to while performing their duties. All these soldiers also complained about bad behavior by their senior officers.   The Times of India exposed, how faulty second-hand spares bought cheap by the Indian Air Force from dubious sources could be one of the reasons for MiG 21 fighter aircraft crashing, according to Andrei Y Belyaninov, the general-director of Rosoboronexport. The France24 covered news story in which a French judge has been tasked with investigating a controversial 2016 multi-billion-dollar sale of Rafale fighter jets to India on “corruption” suspicions, the national financial prosecutors’ office (PNF). Corruption in Indian army especially defense procurement has been accessed to be “high”, with a large mass of its procurements shrouded in secrecy with low levels of accountability. Corruption in Indian defense procurement in three of its neighbors – China, Sri Lanka and Pakistan – has been found to be “highest”.