One has ceased following corruption scams, even those allegedly compromising national security, because there are simply too many of them. Fatigue dictates one to sit back while young and intrepid journalists monitor corruption. However, from long experience one can on the basis of what has appeared in the media opine that the current scandal involving arms dealer, Mr. Abhishek Verma, will end as a damp squib because he will emerge eventually to be innocent. 

Mr. Verma, currently in jail for illegally assessing defence ministry files and implicated earlier in the Navy war room leak case is married to a Romanian, Anca Neascu, who is also his business associate. Defence Minister Mr. AK Antony has described the case against Mr. Verma to be serious and has said that the CBI is “aggressively” probing the charges. Alas. I fear that Mr. Antony might be barking up the wrong tree.  Eventually he will have to eat his words.

The reason for concluding this is that investigative reporters in the media have revealed that among the many documents related to the case in possession of the CBI is one that suggests Mr. Verma’s innocence. The documents in the possession of the CBI reveal that Mr. Verma’s wife had met with Defence Minister of State Mr. Pallam Raju. Mr. Raju would not have been so reckless as to have met an arms dealer unless satisfied that it was appropriate. That his meeting the Verma couple was okay became clear from another document in possession of the CBI. 

That document relates to Sig Sauer. Among other arms firms Mr. Verma is representing Sig Sauer.  Sig Sauer is headquartered in the US with big subsidiaries and partnerships in Germany and Switzerland. It is one of the five largest firearms manufacturers in the world. The document in possession of the CBI is related to a meeting between a senior official of Sig Sauer and defence top officials that was officially recorded. It reveals that the Sig Sauer official was accompanied by “a young member” of the Gandhi dynasty while meeting Defence officials. That means either Mr. Rahul Gandhi, Mr. Robert Vadra or Mrs. Priyanka Vadra accompanied the Sig Sauer official during the meeting with Defence Ministry top officials. 

If this media report is correct then going by experience Mr. Verma must be innocent. Readers would recall how the opposition and the media went berserk accusing Mr. Ottavio Quattrochchi for being guilty of corruption in the Bofors deal. What they failed to appreciate was that Mr. Quattrochchi was very close to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi’s family. That should have been taken as proof that Mr. Quattrochchi must be innocent. Perhaps that is why one discerning editor traveled all the way to Malaysia to actually give a character certificate to Mr. Quattrochchi when the latter badly needed one. That is why the CBI unfroze Mr. Quattrochchi’s bank account in London . That is why the Supreme Court found no case against Mr. Quattrochchi. And going by past experience that is why one believes that Mr. Verma will be found eventually to be as innocent as Mr. Quattrochchi.