Editorial – November 2022

Our cover story this edition is a detailed investigation about a cartelized bid for a cyber security tender which was set aside three years back but has now been revived at big cost to the company. The key figures of this nexus are few known private companies, some shadowy and suspicious private entities, compromised BSNL officials and one person by the name of Aseem Batla whose pervasive fingerprint makes him a key linchpin.

The technical specs of the tender were rigged. OEMs offered their products through Check Point Software Technologies India Pvt Ltd; they refused to offer their solutions and reveal their pricing directly to bidders. Ten OEMs offered their products through Check Point. Finally, the order was awarded to Hitachi at an inflated rate. A system, which could be worth Rs 35-40 crore, has been purchased for Rs 98 crore.

Margins were built in for payouts for procuring the order through a maze of shadowy sub-contracts to a clutch of companies and their subsidiaries. A detailed factcheck has been produced for each of these companies connected with Mr Batla. These reveal that they were bespoke entities created to carry money transfers, overtime some of their networth was brought to nil and they existed only on paper. Several remittances are not even accounted for. Only a thorough government probe can reveal the modus operandi of these transactions and its relation to the revived cartelized bid.