Tatra trucks: Has Army been fleeced of hundreds of crores?

The revelation by Army chief General VK Singh of an offer of a 14-crore bribe has sharply brought into focus what was really at stake. The bribe was allegedly offered by a lobbyist for a truck supplier who flooded the Army for more than two decades with 7,000 over-priced vehicles which performed poorly when put to use. Yet, this supplier, Tatra, a Czech manufacturer, who supplies the trucks to the Army through a Defence Public Sector Undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. was not blacklisted. In fact, the swindle worth hundreds of crores appears to have been facilitated by the government-owned BEML which supplies the Army with trucks and other equipment.