{
 "no": 64,
 "id": "case-64",
 "sk": 20011201,
 "year": 2001,
 "date": "CAG report, 2001",
 "cat": "Public money",
 "sev": "amber",
 "title": "Kargil caskets. Coffins bought at many times the going price",
 "stamp": "Audited, alleged, then cleared by the courts",
 "human": {
  "v": "The bodies of soldiers killed in the 1999 Kargil conflict",
  "est": false
 },
 "cost": {
  "v": "Aluminium caskets contracted at around <b>$2,000</b> each against a quoted $172, with much of the supply arriving after the fighting ended",
  "est": true
 },
 "what": "A 2001 CAG report questioned the emergency purchase of US-made aluminium caskets for soldiers killed at Kargil, finding the price paid far above what the same item was available for, and that a large share of the wartime purchases were delivered months after the conflict had ended.",
 "dodge": "The audit finding hardened into a political charge of profiteering from soldiers' bodies. The Defence Minister said the purchase was cleared at defence secretary level and that he had no part in it. No political figure was ever convicted, and in 2015 the Supreme Court cleared both the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister of wrongdoing.",
 "ministers": [
  {
   "n": "George Fernandes",
   "r": "Defence Minister; cleared by the Supreme Court in 2015"
  }
 ],
 "pos": "The government said the caskets were bought under wartime emergency procedures at a moment of urgent need, that the comparison price was not for an equivalent item, and that no minister was involved in the transaction.",
 "alleg": "The pricing finding is the CAG's. <em>The allegation of corruption was never established, and the courts cleared those accused.</em> This case is recorded here because the audit is real and the accountability question about emergency procurement stands, not because the scandal was proven.",
 "alt": "Emergency procurement rules that survive an audit, and a government willing to publish the file rather than argue about it for fourteen years.",
 "sources": [
  {
   "label": "Tribune: SC rejects PILs seeking a Kargil deals probe",
   "url": "https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/nation/kargil-deals-sc-rejects-two-pils-for-probe-145350",
   "tier": 2
  },
  {
   "label": "Wikipedia: Kargil coffin scam (overview)",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kargil_coffin_scam",
   "tier": 3
  }
 ],
 "caseUrl": "https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-64/"
}