Warm regards
www.corruptionindrdo.com
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Deccan Herald | A costly intelligence asset of no use now
Deccan Herald
A costly intelligence asset of no use now
Chandan Nandy, Bangalore, Mar 21, 2012, DHNS:
Rs 30-cr project scrapped after technical panel found flaws in encryption system
The use of Chinese processors in an encryption system for ground mobile satellite communication terminals for use by the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) was considered a breach of security for which the project was scrapped on the directions of the National Security Council (NSC).
Following strong objections by the NSC, the “Sampark” network was shot down and is not being used by the NTRO, leading to the loss of Rs 30 crore (including capital and recurring expenditure) that was spent on purchasing the asset.
The wasteful expenditure incurred as a result of non-use of the system has come under the scanner of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which is learnt to have classified it as among several other “suspect” NTRO acquisitions and procurements between 2007 and 2010. The CAG undertook a massive special audit of the NTRO after the head of the communications intelligence organisation blew with the whistle on several questionable procurements and other irregularities.
The audit findings have been submitted to the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope.
In late 2009, the NSC was apprised by the Scientific Analysis Group (SAG) within the Defence Research and Development Organisation that several ground mobile SATCOM terminals, which the NTRO had procured from the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for positioning in various parts of the country for communication “during operations”, contained Chinese processors.
The sensitive issue came to the notice of the NSC when the Indian Air Force, which procured the same encryption system from BEL the same year, sought to have it cleared by the SAG. On further examination, it was found by SAG scientists that the encryption system contained Chinese processors which, it was suspected, could potentially compromise all special operations within the country.
An encryption system is an essential feature in SATCOM terminals as they help in protecting transmission of and securing sensitive communication which could otherwise be intercepted. The NTRO procured “bulk encryption systems” in early 2009 as part of a project that was called “Sampark”.
According to sources in the country’s security establishment, senior NTRO officials procured the systems, worth Rs 30 crore, without taking due clearance from the SAG which is the government’s sole certifying authority for such hi-tech and sensitive equipment which the security agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau, use for operations.
The encryption system was used by the NTRO for at least six months during which time intelligence information was transmitted without clearance from the authorities concerned.
PMO, NSA shielding CAG-indicted NTRO – The Pioneer
SUNDAY, 18 MARCH 2012 00:27 J GOPIKRISHNAN | NEW DELHI
While the Prime Minister’s Office and the National Security Advisor are trying to hush up the wrongdoings by powerful technical intelligence agency, NTRO, by not tabling the CAG report in Parliament, the CAG response to an RTI query confirms blatant violations in purchase and recruitments in the sensitive organisation.
The CAG submitted its report to the President in mid-February 2011. As per tradition, this should have been tabled in Parliament in the next session. But the Government has not mustered the courage to table it even after more than a year.
The Government may attract breach of privilege notices from parliamentarians as it is going to submit the report to the Supreme Court on March 19. All the CAG reports are first placed in Parliament, which makes it public.
This will be the first time the Government will bypass Parliament and submit a CAG report to the Supreme Court. The SC had ordered for production of the controversial CAG report in a sealed cover on a petition filed by former joint secretary of National Technical Research Organisation VK Mittal.
“We have noticed lack of transparency and non-compliance of rules and procedures in procurement of systems/stores/equipment and deficient procurement management resulting in cases of excess payment/wasteful expenditure/loss to exchequer,” said the CAG’s office in the RTI reply sought by whistleblower VK Mittal.
“We have noticed cases of appointment of ineligible candidates and lack of transparency in recruitment of regular employees also in NTRO…. We have noticed lack of transparency in appointment of contractual employees… We have noticed instances of misuse of official position,” added CAG’s office.
CAG decision to audit on NTRO affairs in December 2009 was vehemently objected by then National Security Advisor MK Naryanan and later overruled by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. NTRO, which was formed after the Kargil war, works under NSA who reports to the Prime Minister.
The CAG submitted its performance audit on the NTRO, the first such audit report on an intelligence organisation in mid-February 2011. The report, according to sources, exposed the style of functioning and rampant corruption in secret service organisation, nepotism and siphoning money in the name of national security. The findings of the CAG were pointing directly towards the “arbitrary decisions” of then NSA and higher officials in the PMO, said sources.
Among the major findings, the blatant violation of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) purchases by manipulating the decisions of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). The CAG report, a copy of which is also with National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon over the past one year, has indicted former NTRO Chairman KVSS Prasad Rao and its Advisor MS Vijayaraghavan for misdeeds in several purchases.
The CAG’s Special Audit on Performance and Finance of NTRO has revealed that the agency, in a bid to favour the Israeli vendors, never informed the CCS on adding extra cost of Rs 150 crore. The CCS sanctioned Rs 300 crore for purchase and NTRO manipulated the accounting procedures and hiked the purchase amount to Rs 450 crore.
More over CAG found that the entire such purchase to favour the Israeli vendor lead to inferior quality and the entire UAVs are still non-operational.
The CAG in its report on the functioning of NTRO found that as many as 143 posts in the sensitive organisation were filled not according the procedures and observed severe nepotism in such postings. The CAG decided to audit when Mittal, who quit from the organisation and complained on illegalities.
After Government hushed up the CAG report by not tabling before Parliament, he approached Supreme Court through noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan. In a recent hearing, Justices HL Dattu and CK Prasad directed Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman to submit the controversial CAG report on March 19 in a sealed cover. Several legal experts point out that non-tabling of CAG report before Parliament and presenting it in a sealed cover before court may invite breach of privilege by Parliamentarians.
Centre submits action taken report on NTRO scam to SC
Centre submits action taken report on NTRO scam to SC
TNN Mar 20, 2012, 02.41AM IST
NEW DELHI: The Union government on Monday submitted in sealed cover to the Supreme Court an action taken report (ATR) on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) findings about alleged irregularities in purchase of intelligence equipment by the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO).
Additional solicitor general Harin Raval submitted the ATR. Adjourning the matter to April 9, a bench of Justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad said, “If we are convinced (after perusing the report) there is some positive steps taken, we will not go ahead with hearing of the case. But if we feel it is merely eyewash, we will then call upon those responsible.”
PIL petitioner V K Mittal had alleged that a major portion of the Rs 450-crore NTRO scam pertained to purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from an Israeli firm allegedly at a very high price without the mandatory approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
NTRO, which was set up in 2004 and functions under the Prime Minister’s Office, has been entrusted with the task of missile monitoring, satellite and airborne imagery, cyber patrolling and security, cyber offensive operations and communication support systems, including cryptology.
It was on the complaint of Mittal, a former joint director who had also served in NTRO, that the PMO had ordered a probe into the scam. Later, the CAG was asked to look into the organization’s accounts. The government had alleged that Mittal wanted to head the NTRO and filed the PIL when he did not succeed.
Mittal’s petition stated that the independent body answerable only to the national security adviser was allotted about Rs 8,000 crore since 2005, but no book of accounts were maintained for the expenses.
DRDO passes its expertise to NTRO – I
All the stalwarts of DRDO who were master of manipulating government funds, misinterpretation of government rules having expertise in inculcating a negative attitude towards self reliance and always planning commission and omission through bulk purchases were shifted to NTRO an agency established by the government after KARGIL debacle. The modus operandi of DRDO & NTRO experts/bosses are twin in appearance, if CBI enquires in depth the enquiry will reveal that the entire procurement/ recruitment system are identical.
Deccan Herald
Under veil of secrecy, elint outfit gobbles funds
Chandan Nandy, Bangalore, Mar 20, 2012, DHNS:
Less spying and more misuse of resources in elite security set-up
Eight years after its creation, the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), which was established on the lines of Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and America’s National Security Agency (NSA), is in a mess.
Far from performing the responsibilities it was entrusted with after it was found that the country’s security establishment lacked effective technical/communications intelligence capabilities, the NTRO is battling serious allegations of corruption.And the lid has been blown off from within: a former NTRO scientist, V K Mittal, has been able to fight his way through the webs of secrecy and official pressure and intimidation to force the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to institute a special audit which the Supreme Court is now seized of.According to one estimate, misappropriation of funds in the NTRO is to the tune of Rs 800 crore, which was alloted Rs 9,832 crore in the 2011-12 financial year. The organisation spends approximately 62 per cent of the money on purchase of equipment and maintains a secret service fund of about Rs 36 crore. Most of the procurements were through single tenders.According to a February 29, 2012 CAG reply to Mittal’s RTI application, the audit body “noticed lack of transparency and non-compliance of rules and procedures in procurement of systems/stores/equipment and deficient procurement management, resulting in cases of excess payment/wasteful expenditure/loss to the exchequer.”Investigations by Deccan Herald revealed that despite objections from the chief of communications intelligence, senior NTRO officers procured satellite communication terminals worth Rs 18 crore in early 2009 from a blacklisted company, Singapore Technology.
The previous year (May 2008), Mittal, as head of NTRO’s Centre for Communications Applications (CCA) wrote to the then NTRO chairman K V S S Prasad Rao claiming that the use of satellite communication (SATCOM) equipment on board unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was “never a part of the original request for proposal (RFP) or tender” and “hence no technical evaluation was carried out” at any stage by his division.
Although the SATCOM equipment were to be procured from two Israeli companies, Israeli Aerospace Industry (IAI) and ELTA, visits by CCA officers to these firms in Israel yielded little. “In all meetings (at least four times in Tel Aviv) CCA has been requesting IAA/ELTA to give details of the antenna and other systems associated with SATCOM onboard the UAV. Despite our concerted efforts and repeated demands, IAI/ELTA have refused to part with necessary information,” documents in possession of Deccan Herald say.
Alarmingly, the trials of the SATCOM for UAVs, instead of being carried out in India were undertaken in Australia despite strong objections on the ground that the tests should be carried out in Indian conditions. “The offer of trials outside India was firmly turned down by CCA due to various technical reasons in July-August 2007. Hence the rationale for trials oustide India, despite our strong opposition is not clear to us,” the document of May 9, 2008 says.
The main reason why trials (which were to be witnessed by representatives of the Army, Air Force and the Navy) in Australia were not considered feasible was the IAI/ELTA had provided incomplete information about the antenna proposed for SATCOM onboard UAVs. Besides, it was found that the antenna was “suboptimal” and “did not meet the requisite standard of radiation”, and that power amplifiers required modifications “to be able to meet digital modulation requirements.”
Documents in Deccan Herald’s possession suggest that the Israeli companies failed to demonstrate any SATCOM specialisation for the equipments, including electronic intelligence payload for the UAVs, a project that cost Rs 40 crore.
It was after Mittal was served a memo by the then NTRO adviser (in the rank of additional secretary) M S Vijayaraghavan for objecting to the SATCOM equipment deal that he quit the NTRO and blew the whistle on the goings-on in the country’s communications intelligence organisation. Subsequent internal inquiries and special audits by the CAG in January 2010 (the NTRO was outside the purview of any government audit when it was formed) led to the chargesheeting of seven officers.
A retired senior intelligence officer blamed “those in control of the country’s security apparatus” for NTRO’s “miserable condition.”
Under the scanner
* Internet monitoring system (Rs 30 cr)
* Information processing software (Rs 5 cr)
* Satellite communication monitoring system (Rs 30 cr)
* Civil works contract in Dehradun (Rs 40 cr)
* Electronic intelligence payload (Rs 30 cr)
Kony 2012
Serious lapses in NTRO equipment buying: CAG
Serious lapses in NTRO equipment buying: CAG
by Danish Raza Mar 12, 2012 First Post
New Delhi: While the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) special audit report of National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO)remains a top secret, the auditing authority has officially admitted it found serious lapses in recruitment of regular employees and procurement of equipment by NTRO.
“We have noticed cases of appointment of ineligible candidates and lack of transparency in recruitment of regular employees in NTRO,” the office of the Directorate General of Audit (central expenditure), an arm of CAG, said in response to RTI application filed by V.K. Mittal
The findings of NTRO audit have not been made public.The report has not been placed before the Parliament. The agency is a highly specialised technical intelligence gathering agency.
Responding to a query on the types of irregularities which were detected in procurement of systems/ equipment, the auditing body said, “We have noticed lack of transparency and non- compliance of rules in procurement of systems/ equipment and deficient procurement management resulting in cases of excess payment/ wasteful expenditure to exchequer.”
According to the RTI reply dated February 29, 2012, a copy of which is with Firstpost, CAG has also noticed instances of misuse of official position. CAG has also informed Mittal that neither NTRO nor the National Security Advisor (NSA) has filed any action taken report based on special audit report- a first for any intelligence agency in India.
In other words, NSA received the audit report but took no action based on its findings.
“The fact that the CAG has detected bungling in NTRO but nothing was to curb it, calls for greater accountability in NTRO and other similar bodies,” said Mittal.
The NTRO, created in 2004, is a technical intelligence wing of the government of India. It reports directly to the NSA.
Mittal, a former scientist with NTRO and one of the founding members of the organization, exposed a series of irregularities in the purchase of defence equipment in NTRO. He wrote to the NSA and the Prime Minister’s Office about lack of transparency in procuring of equipment, including unmanned aerial vehicles, by the NTRO.
Last year, Mittal filed a petition in Delhi High Court on the issue. The High Court refused to interfere in the matter directing the CAG to proceed in accordance with law.
Mittal then moved Supreme Court which, in August last year, issued notices to the PMO, Central Vigilance Commission, NTRO and CAG.
In the next hearing on March 19, the government has to submit the auditor’s report in the Supreme Court before the bench of justice H L Dattu and C K Prasad.
DNA Exclusive: CAG nails NTRO; NSA sits on report
DNA Exclusive: CAG nails NTRO; NSA sits on report
Published: Monday, Mar 5, 2012, 9:15 IST
By Saikat Datta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
By Saikat Datta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
An aggressive audit of the country’s premier technical spying agency, the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), by the CAG — the first time an intelligence agency has been audited — has revealed large-scale irregularities, corruption and several instances of official position/s being misused.
The report is unlikely to be made public or even placed before Parliament, but is bound to raise questions on National Security Adviser (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon’s role as he has not taken any action on the report for months. The NTRO does not come under any ministry and it reports directly to the NSA.
India is one of the few democracies where Parliament has no supervisory control over intelligence agencies. The report comes at a time when there is tremendous churning within the intelligence community with calls for greater accountability and transparency.
The CAG summarised its findings while replying to former NTRO joint secretary VK Mittal’s query under RTI seeking details of the audit. It says the CAG has “noticed cases of appointment of ineligible candidates” confirming fears that the agency has been flouting rules while recruiting senior people.
A source told DNA that this has resulted in people being recruited based on their “connections” rather than merit. In fact, IPS officer Jaijeet Singh (Maharashtra cadre) who joined the NTRO last year is probing such cases. So far, five people — either of the rank of joint secretary or director — are under the scanner. The “illegal recruits” include Commander Manoj Modi from the navy, LtCol Sachin Burman, part of the cyber-espionage team, Pramod Prasad, Ruchichandra Srivastava and HS Dhillon.
The CAG found that contractual appointments of senior officers were not transparent. Financial rules were flouted while recruiting Brigadier Anil Malhotra on contract. Malhotra dealt with counter-intelligence and internal security.
The report also talks of several senior officers “misusing” their positions. Chief among them is MS Vijaraghavan, currently the second-in-command in the NTRO.
The fact that he used a prime property in New Delhi’s posh Hauz Khas enclave as his personal residence — rent bills ran into lakhs — left the organisation embarrassed. The CAG recorded several instances of “misuse of official power”, many being committed by Vijayraghavan. Despite all this, he still holds a sensitive post because the government has chosen to ignore the charges against him.
PV Kumar, the present NTRO chairman, too investigated the mess and sent his report to the NSA, Menon. But he has been sitting on both reports for months. And the picture is unlikely to change because neither report would be tabled in Parliament. The reason: the reports are confidential.
The CAG said in an earlier reply, November 28, 2011, under RTI that neither the NTRO nor the NSA has sent any “action-taken” report. DNA has learnt that the CAG has found at least 143 instances of illegal recruitments. It has also found “non-compliance of rules” in procurement of systems and equipment. This means kickbacks could have been part of the several purchases made by NTRO.
The NTRO was set up after the Kargil war to coordinate all technical intelligence efforts. But the organisation has failed to take off because of nepotism and corruption. Even Union home minister P Chidamabaram refused to include the agency in his daily intelligence briefings. The home ministry recently denied it the status of a notified agency that could legally intercept phones and emails of the people of the country.