CMRL, Kochi also buy trains from French firm
French transport major Alstom's British subsidiary of paying a hefty bribe to win train contracts in India (for Delhi metro rail corporation) as well as in three other countries. (Photo: PTI)
Chennai: The British SFO (Serious Fraud Office) may have whipped up a storm from London not just in Delhi but also in Chennai and Kochi. In accusing French transport major Alstom’s British subsidiary of paying a hefty bribe to win train contracts in India (for Delhi metro rail corporation) as well as in three other countries, the SFO appears to have cast a shadow over many other metro projects under execution in the country. For, Alstom Indian Ltd is supplying metro trains to not just DMRC, but also trains to the metro projects in Chennai and Kochi.
Kochi was the most recent to rope in Alstom when the firm won a Rs 633 crore contract to supply 75 coaches on August 12. Incidentally, Kochi metro project’s financial bid was finalised in Alstom’s favour at the same DMRC headquarters the SFO has now named as one of the benefactors of the French firm’s alleged bribe designs.
The Kochi contract was finalised even as the SFO had approached the CBI last February to probe the bribery scam. Curiously, the firm allegedly faced similar bribery charges in Brazil and US during the same period.
Alstom won the Rs 1,471 crore metro train supply bid of Chennai metro rail limited (CMRL) much earlier, in 2010. Alstom India Ltd has supplied nearly a third of the trains it had promised to deliver for the Rs 14,600 crore CMRL project.
However, CMRL official are unfazed by SFO’s revelation. DMRC contracts were inked between 2000 and 2006, whereas the CMRL contracts happened in an absolutely transparent manner. “Our project will not be affected by the scam. It will progress as usual. If there is something to be probed, agencies are free to do that,” the officer said.
( Source : dc )
Next Story