The Defence Ministry has blacklisted four foreign and two Indian firms for ten years from all business dealings for their involvement in the corrupt practices. Replying to supplementaries during the question hour in the Rajya Sabha today, the Defence Minister A K Antony said, the four foreign vendors belong to Israel, Russia, Germany and Singapore and the two Indian vendors are from New Delhi and Ludhiana.
Mr Antony informed the House that his Ministry has already recovered the 200 crore rupees paid as advance to the Israeli vendor. Replying to a specific question, whether the government is considering to raise the cooling period for retired defence personnel working for Indian and foreign companies for lobbying, Mr Antony said, the Standing Committee on Defence has recommended to raise the cooling period for upto five years. He said, the government will take a decision in this regard soon. On the procurement of Tatra trucks by Defence Ministry, Mr Antony said, the CBI is inquiring into it at present. He hoped the agency will submit the report very quickly.