The Central government is examining whether, or not, extraneous circumstances played a role in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) not probing Bodo Herbert Garbe, the chief of German arms giant Rheinmetall, accused of hatching a conspiracy to get the company off Ministry of Defence’s blacklist by allegedly bribing top defence officials. The CBI sat on the case despite the Supreme Court repeatedly directing the agency to probe the matter.
Rheinmetall was blacklisted by the MoD in 2012 after it was found that the company had allegedly bribed the Director-General of the Ordnance Factory Board at the time to secure a contract for air defence guns.
The conduct of the CBI has come for questioning because the agency itself had moved the Apex Court in September 2017, challenging a Delhi High Court order of February 2016 exonerating Garbe from charges of bribing government officials in India.
After “waking up” to the High Court order in September 2017, almost 19 months after Garbe was acquitted, the CBI moved the Supreme Court seeking “condonation” of the delay and setting aside of the order of Garbe’s exoneration.
However, despite the Supreme Court agreeing to condone the delay and directing the agency to “take fresh steps” in the case, the CBI suddenly decided to “drop” the case, as its subsequent conduct shows. While accepting the CBI plea on 10 November 2017, the Supreme Court ordered the “condonation” and taking up of “fresh steps” in the case.
Subsequently, the CBI told the Apex Court on 7 March 2018 that since Garbe was in Germany, it would need the help of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to serve notice to him. After this, the Supreme Court directed the CBI to provide the necessary documents to the MHA and gave four weeks’ time to do the needful.
In the next hearing on 20 April, the SC gave the CBI a “last chance” to comply with its March 7 order and again gave it two weeks’ time. In the subsequent hearing on 17 May, the SC agreed to the CBI’s demand that another three months be given to serve the notice.
Finally, on 10 September 2018, an exasperated Supreme Court dismissed the CBI’s appeal, as the agency failed to lay its hands on Garbe, despite repeated reminders and extensions from the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court added that it appeared that the petitioner was not interested in pursuing the matter.
Coming down heavily on the agency, the Supreme Court observed: “Despite repeated opportunities granted by the Registry and by the Judge in Chambers, counsel for the petitioner (CBI) has not taken steps for service on the sole respondent (Garbe), who is stated to be residing abroad, through Ministry of Home Affairs. It appears that the petitioner is not interested to pursue the Special Leave Petition.”
The conduct of the agency has generated fresh interest among top government officials, as the CBI, along with the Union Law Ministry, had rushed to the Supreme Court after the High Court judgement, albeit after taking a long time, while fielding Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal to seek “condonation” and a fresh appeal against Garbe’s exoneration.
The 20-plus page petition was filed by CBI SP, Rajiv Ranjan on behalf of the agency. The CBI had alleged that Garbe had, in order to illegally get his firm off the Ministry of Defence blacklist, had paid around Rs 3.5 crore.
The Attorney-General had told the Supreme Court at the time that the Delhi High Court order of clearing Garbe was “erroneous” and the CBI had found “new evidences”.