Tiger80 Posted April 8, 2013 Posted April 8, 2013 Zeenews Bureau New Delhi: In what may trigger a political storm in the country, the latest WikiLeaks revelations from US Embassy cables have linked former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as an arms agent in a deal related to the sale of Swedish jets. A report published by leading daily The Hindu on WikiLeaks expose of US diplomatic cables relating to “the Henry Kissinger era” claimed that Rajiv Gandhi could have been a middleman for the Swedish company Saab-Scania, when it was trying to sell its Viggen fighter aircraft to India in the 1970s. This was several months much before Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister, during his years as an Indian Airlines pilot. This shocking revelation is contained in the Kissinger Cables, the latest tranche of US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks, which claims that he was the “main Indian negotiator” for a massive aircraft deal for which his “family” connections were seen as valuable. The allegation against Rajiv Gandhi as an arms agent relates to the mid 1970s. This is arguably the most sensational of the claims relating to Rajiv Gandhi. However, there is no independent confirmation or denial of the claim that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s son, who was then a pilot with Indian Airlines, did in fact negotiate on behalf of the Swedish company Saab-Scania, which was looking to sell 50 Viggen fighter aircraft to India. The very cable that mentions Rajiv Gandhi as an “entrepreneur” also states explicitly that US officials have “no additional information to either refute or confirm the above information.” In any case, Saab-Scania lost out on the deal, having been forced to withdraw from the “fighter sweepstakes” by the US; the deal was eventually secured the British SEPECAT Jaguar. A controversy over bribes paid in another armed forces deal with a different Swedish company, Bofors, had led to Rajiv Gandhi's and the Congress's defeat in the 1989 elections. Meanwhile, the main opposition party BJP has slammed the ruling Congress over the fresh WikiLeaks allegations involving Rajiv Gandhi. http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/rajiv-gandhi-was-a-middleman-for-swedish-jets-wikileaks_840498.html
Sachin=GOD Posted April 8, 2013 Posted April 8, 2013 this is a massive kaaanspiracy by FBI/ISI/WikiLeaks/MI6 to defame the Gandhi family
Clarke Posted April 8, 2013 Posted April 8, 2013 I never understood this middleman nonsense. How legal are these middlemen as per our procurement policies ? Billion dollar corporations backed by their govt on one side and the giant govt bureaucracy on the other, sounds like a massive shortage of people to complete deals mutually :wall:
diga Posted April 8, 2013 Posted April 8, 2013 this is a massive kaaanspiracy by FBI/ISI/WikiLeaks/MI6 to defame the Gandhi family Ohh yeah.. thats why she doesnt want to make her tax returns public? Tax returns of Gandhi? or doesnt want to share that she has billion dollars in her bank A/c - Billion$ bride
jiggo Posted April 8, 2013 Posted April 8, 2013 And wifey Sonia Gandhi happily continuing the tradition with choppers.
Crookbond Posted April 8, 2013 Posted April 8, 2013 Some more important details from the cable - * The cable which specifies Rajiv Gandhi being the middle man dealer was sent by a diplomat from the Swedish embassy to "China United States Liaison Office Peking | Commander in Chief US Pacific Command | Defense Intelligence Agency | Department of State | France Paris | MOSSOW | Sweden Stockholm | United Kingdom London". * The cable specifies a comment from "United States Defense Attaché Office" - " DAO HAS NO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO EITHER REFUTE OR CONFIRM THE ABOVE INFORMATION." * Indira Gandhi was did not want to purchase the Jaguar from the British due to her personal prejudices * US arm twisted the Swedes to sell the Viggen to India had "advanced US technology" * The British Jaguar eventually won the deal
The Dark Horse Posted April 8, 2013 Posted April 8, 2013 The entire family is a virus on the country. In hindsight Kamaraj should have become PM instead of recommending Indira
Mariyam Posted April 8, 2013 Posted April 8, 2013 I never understood this middleman nonsense. How legal are these middlemen as per our procurement policies ? Billion dollar corporations backed by their govt on one side and the giant govt bureaucracy on the other' date=' sounds like a massive shortage of people to complete deals mutually :wall:[/quote'] Most of the times a country would need middlemen due to the existing political situations. For eg, India couldn't buy weapons from Western nations/NATO nations during most of the 70s and the 80s due to our alignment with the Soviets. So if we needed a large consignment of weapons that didn't have instruction booklets in Russian, we would have to go through scores of middlemen, who have some kind of influence within their respective defense ministries. I'll try to find and paste a link of the Quattrocchi case. Its an interesting read. I don't know if thats the case here though.
diga Posted April 9, 2013 Posted April 9, 2013 heads I win, tails you lose Sanjay Gandhi also a middleman through maruti The Maruti company, in which Sanjay Gandhi had major stakes, actively sought, and was rumoured to have got, the role of agent for the British Aircraft Corporation in its sales efforts in India during the 1970s, according to Kissinger-era U.S. embassy dispatches obtained and released by WikiLeaks on Monday. In 1976, negotiations were going on in two major aircraft deals: Deep Penetration Strike Aircraft (DPSA) for the Indian Air Force and twin-jet commercial aircraft for Indian Airlines. BAC was in the running for both. The Jaguar — manufactured by SEPECAT, a joint venture of BAC and the French firm Breguet — was the eventual winner of the DPSA race with French firm Dassault’s Mirage and the Swedish Saab-Scania’s Viggen fighter. In the Indian Airlines negotiation, the competition was among BAC 111-474, U.S. firm Boeing’s 737-200, and the Dutch ***ker’s F-28 Mark 4000. Src: Hindu Heads I win, tails you lose... its all in the family :wall:
Clarke Posted April 9, 2013 Posted April 9, 2013 Most of the times a country would need middlemen due to the existing political situations. For eg, India couldn't buy weapons from Western nations/NATO nations during most of the 70s and the 80s due to our alignment with the Soviets. So if we needed a large consignment of weapons that didn't have instruction booklets in Russian, we would have to go through scores of middlemen, who have some kind of influence within their respective defense ministries. I'll try to find and paste a link of the Quattrocchi case. Its an interesting read. I don't know if thats the case here though. At the end of the day, the deal will be signed between the western corporation and our ministry of defence once approved by the respective western govt. So my point here is, what prevented our babus/mantris from reaching out to the west directly ? We had the respective embassies and diplomatic relations, didn't we ? Just what sort of enabling can the middleman do here that the billion dollar customer can't ? For whatever its worth, we were co-founders & preached about the NAM, we weren't exactly commies. That's just the past as you indicated; what about the recent VIP helicopter scam ? The ex-army chief's close relatives are middlemen ? That's just $#%@#^%^
Mariyam Posted April 10, 2013 Posted April 10, 2013 At the end of the day' date=' the deal will be signed between the western corporation and our ministry of defence once approved by the respective western govt. So my point here is, [b']what prevented our babus/mantris from reaching out to the west directly ? We had the respective embassies and diplomatic relations, didn't we ? Just what sort of enabling can the middleman do here that the billion dollar customer can't ? Probably to save face. Our government, back in the day, could probably not explain ideologically why a NAM founder needed Western arms. Neither could their governments explain why they were willing to sell weapons to a nation which refused foreign investments and protected its markets with exorbitant tariffs. The middle men were face savers in such cases. That's just the past as you indicated; what about the recent VIP helicopter scam ? The ex-army chief's close relatives are middlemen ? That's just $#%@#^%^ Beats me too. My post in no way condones the actions of the middlemen. I was just telling you how they became so important.
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