NEW DELHI - India has removed South Africa's Denel from its ban list after nine years of investigations failed to prove corruption charges regarding a rifle purchase. The Indian Ministry of Defence sent a letter August 12 to Denel notifying them of the ban lifting.
Denel was banned by the outgoing United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government after allegations that it paid kickbacks to secure a deal with the Indian Army in 2002 to sell 1,000 NTW-20 anti-material rifles along with 398,000 rounds of ammunition. Under the deal, 700 rifles were to have been purchased directly and the remaining 300 licensed-produced in one of the factories of India's state-owned Ordnance Factory Board. Only 400 rifles had been inducted into the Indian Army and the remainder put on hold after the 2005 blacklisting and investigation by the anti-fraud agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The blacklisting of Denel stalled several Indian Army projects, including the purchase of 155mm/52 caliber artillery guns as Denel was the front runner in that program, which was then canceled.
You have 0 item(s) in your cart