New Delhi: The Defence Ministry has
launched an inquiry after receiving an anonymous envelope
containing four pages of leaked draft field trial report of
145 M777 Ultra-Light Howitzers to be procured for the army,
Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
In a written reply to the House, Defence Minister A K
Antony said, "An inquiry on this matter is under way.... Four
pages of draft field trial report have been received in an
anonymous envelope by the Army Headquarters."
The Army`s plans to acquire its first artillery gun in
nearly two and half decades after the Bofors scam and the guns
are being procured from the US through the Foreign Military
Sales (FMS) route.
On steps taken by government to prevent such
incidents, he said, "Detailed instructions exist on security
of classified documents. Aberrations, if any, are dealt with
as per the relevant rules."
The Court of Inquiry (CoI) under a three-star officer
is underway and will fix responsibilities as to how and from
where the trial report leaked and who were the officers
responsible for it.
Meanwhile, replying to another question on the missing
secret file on Medium-Multi Role Fighter Aircraft (M-MRCA)
deal, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju denied
that any sensitive information was compromised in the
incident.
"The file did not contain any information which was
sensitive. It contained requests of some companies with regard
to offset," he informed the House.
He said that a file relating to request of vendors
regarding offset was accidentally dropped by an officer in
Asiad Village where he was residing, at 2000 hours on December
21, 2010.
"An inquiry was conducted by the Ministry into the
incident and officers responsible have been cautioned in
writing," Antony told the House.
PTI
