New Delhi: The Air Force has begun court
martial proceedings against a Wing Commander who was allegedly
caught demanding a bribe from officials of French defence firm
at the Aero India show in Bangalore last year.
The Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the incident had
recommended Wg Cdr A K Thakur to face a court martial and the
proceedings started against him in Bangalore recently, sources
said here.
They said the CoI had found Thakur prima facie involved
in demanding bribe from French company Dassault Aviation for
allotting a `more advantageous position` for its Rafale
aircraft in the `static` aircraft display section at the
biennial airshow.
One of the officials of Dassault Aviation, who had filed
the complaint against the officer, is also there to appear as
a witness in the General Court Martial (GCM) headed by a Group
Captain-rank officer, the sources said.
Court martial is the actual trial to prove if a person is
guilty or not of the charges levelled against him in the CoI.
However, verdict of the court martial is also not final, as it
is subject to approval from higher authorities.
Dassault Aviation`s Rafale, which has now won the race
for IAF`s multi-billion dollar combat aircraft deal, was one
of the six contenders in the hotly-contested tender when the
alleged incident happened in February 2011.
PTI
