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After an army court of inquiry, the defence ministry on Thursday appointed a one-member fact-finding committee to look into the conduct of its officials whose names have figured in tehelka.com's expose on corruption in arms deals.
The committee, to be headed by R P Bagai, joint secretary and chief vigilance officer of the ministry, has been asked to submit its report within a month to Defence Minister Jaswant Singh.
The committee will inquire into whether transactions pertaining to the procurement of armaments, weapon systems and stores shown in the sting tapes and transcripts have been carried out in terms of the prescribed procedure.
The committee has also been asked to examine whether individuals can manipulate existing procurement procedures for extraneous considerations and to suggest appropriate modifications.
The committee, according to highly placed sources, will act parallel to the court of inquiry ordered by the army.
It will examine defence ministry official H C Joshi, P Sasi, staff officer to the Ordnance Factory Board, an office assistant and assistant financial controller in the ministry, all of whom figure in the tehelka.com tapes.
The fact-finding inquiry committee has already written to tehelka.com editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal to appear before it with his investigative reporters, Aniruddha Bahal and Samuel Mathews.
It has also asked Tejpal to make available the unedited tapes and transcripts.
PTI
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