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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Musharraf ruin PAF’s $1.2 billion Saab Surveillance System deal for possible kickbacks


Former chief of the Pakistan Air Force Air Chief Marshal Saadat Kaleem has accused the ousted dictator, General Pervez Musharraf, of ruining the PAF’s $1.2 billion Saab Surveillance System deal for possible kickbacks.Kaleem said that despite the PAF’s opposition, Musharraf put pressure on the air force to modify the contract to the extent that the number of systems to be purchased from Sweden was reduced from six to four to include two Chinese systems. The $1.2 billion contract was originally meant to acquire six surveillance systems and one Saab 2000 aircraft as VIP version from the Swedish company.Talking to The News from his residence on phone, he said General Musharraf personally exerted pressure on him to modify the contract but he, as the PAF chief, was opposed to this because of the objections raised by the PAF experts purely on technical grounds.He, however, said that after he retired in March 2006, the contract with the Swedish company was modified to include two Chinese systems. ìIt was done with malafide intentions, the former PAF chief said, adding such modifications were usually made due to some motivation factor.He said the Pakistan Air Force had cautioned in advance that the Chinese system was inferior to the Swedish system and the two systems were incompatible. Also, one of the systems was superfluous.This mix-up of the two different technologies, he said, was bound to create more problems instead of serving the purpose for which the project was conceived. He explained that the two systems could not be integrated so it was better to cancel the Swedish contract altogether and go for the Chinese option.He explained that the Swedish system contained electronically scanned antenna while the Chinese system had rotating dome antenna. The former, he said, is far superior to the latter. He said that the Pakistan Air Force had initially decided to buy the Swedish system following the recommendations of its operationís branch, which was not in favour of the modification of the Swedish contract for including the Chinese technology due to technical objections.He recalled that once General Musharraf called him to the Army House and directed to modify the contract to include two Chinese surveillance systems but when he opposed it, Musharraf snubbed him by saying, What is the problem with you? Kaleem said he had told Musharraf that it would be a disadvantage to have two technologies but Musharraf wanted to give a $250m contract to a Chinese company, citing ìstrategic relations with the friendly country. He said he had also pointed out that the PAF was already procuring defence equipment worth $6 to 7 billion from the Chinese firms, so another contract of $250 million would not make much difference.He said that he had also argued that even if the Chinese system was provided free of cost, it would be a burden on the Pakistan Air Force because it had to train its pilots, give technical training to others and create a separate specialised team of experts to deal with it. The former air chief said that he was prepared to appear before any commission to submit what he had gone through on the issue.The PAF had been looking for a surveillance system since long. The project called Project Horizon by the PAF and negotiated between the Saab/Ericsson MW team and the Pakistani authorities continued for over two and a half years. On Oct 15, 2005, the $1.2 billion contract for six surveillance systems and one Saab 2000 aircraft as VIP version was signed. The Government of Pakistan also negotiated and signed a loan agreement with the Swedish government agency, SEK, to finance this project.But later the number of systems to be purchased from the Swedish company were reduced from six to four following Musharrafs orders. According to a source, Saadat Kaleem favoured the Swedish company, a charge Kaleem flatly denied and insisted that the Swedish systems were the best available choice for the Pakistan Air Force.He, however, admitted that the Saab office, situated in Islamabad, was housed in his house, rented out to the Swedish company after his retirement for $5,000 per month. When asked if this was not a clear case of conflict of interest, Kaleem said it was not, insisting that another house in his neighbourhood was rented out to a foreigner for $4,500 per month.According to a source, a PAF officer, who was a member of the PAFís project team, was offered a lucrative salary package after his retirement by the same company, which had also created an office for the officer but the PAF refused to give the officer NoC to take up this job. Kaleem said that he was not aware of this case.

6 comments:

everything he talked was right until the media highlighted the links with him and Saab. it casts doubt on his story. He looks like the corrupt one?

Kaleems own shenanigans are legend too. Does he not recall what he did on the CASA deal? There are more skeletons as all know. Yes the Chinese deal was scandalous.Let someone else write about Musharraf,Brig Niaz and Col Cheema and the fun they have had!

The Chinese KJ2000 AWAC has been advertised for having an AESA on various websites. What system has Pakistan contracted for?

Actually it is very interesting that PAF went for unproven and untested platform that lacks in performance. PAF had to sign a joint venture contract just to make sure that it can meet the performance requirements when delivered to PAF.

To Anom who cant control his tong, If you can’t speak in civilized way then don’t try to make a mess out here.

KJ-200 AEW&C is what PAF has contracted far similar to the saab-2000 AEW&C not the KJ-2000 AEW&C. Yes it uses AESA radar but lacks performance in critical sectors and kaleem had spoken openly that Both Radar and platform lacks in performance and needs to be upgraded.

Again another interesting point is that he is claiming that PAF went for y-8 aew&c with rotating dome rather than blade type as reported by AFM

Hi,
Chinese never asked for any Money for their AEW A/C, since they use PAF as testing ground and marketing place. When the Swedes were asked to modify the contract, they refused to decrease the amount of money, since the aircraft are used, and were already ordered for. So, PAF is paying the same amount of money they would for 6 AEW, and getting 4. The chinese contract and its money is only being finalized now.

The only one not getting commission, or reduced money is the previous ACM himself.

This is one of the worst deals in the history of Pakistan.

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