A day after the reported leak of sensitive documents related to combat capabilities of the Scorpene submarine came to the fore, the Indian Government on Thursday took up the matter with its French counterpart and urged them to probe the issue with urgency.
The Indian Navy contacted the Director-General of Armament of the French Government and asked them to share the findings of the probe. It is suspected that the ‘leak’ could have taken place in France.
The Mazagon Docks limited (MDl), which, in collaboration with Direction des Constructions Navales Services (DCNS) of France, is building six Scorpene submarines in Mumbai, has also ruled out leak of documents at its end.
Maintaining that the initial analysis of some of the 22,400 leaked pages indicated that security of the project was not compromised, sources said there was no reason to get alarmed.
On Wednesday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar asked Navy chief Admiral Sunil lanba to conduct a probe to check the authenticity of the leaked documents and claimed it was a case of hacking. A team headed by deputy chief of Naval Staff was going through the 22,400 leaked documents and it will take some time to reach any conclusion, officials said.
An internal audit of procedures to rule out security compromise was also going on, officials said, adding the Defence Ministry was in touch with foreign Governments through diplomatic channels to verify the authenticity of the reports.
The Government is also examining if the information contained in the documents claimed to be available with Australian sources has been compromised. A high-level committee constituted by the Defence Ministry and the Indian Navy is taking all necessary steps to mitigate any probable security compromise, they said. It is also carrying out a detailed assessment of the potential impact of the leak on the Scorpene project.
Sources said a Defence Ministry team may also travel to France and visit the DCNS headquarters.
The French shipbuilder that had inked the $3.5 billion deal in 2006 for building Scorpene submarines at the MDl, on Wednesday said that French authorities were probing the “serious” matter.
This investigation will determine the exact nature of the leaked documents, the potential damage to DCNS customers as well as those responsible for the leak.
Incidentally, the DCNS inked a $38 billion dollar (Aus$50 billion) deal two months ago for building 12 submarines for the Australian Navy. Sources said this Rs leak’ could be part of a corporate war. They also speculated that a former French employee of the DCNS might have been the source of the leak.
French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler said on Wednesday that his Government was taking the issue very seriously and that they will work in close co-operation with India on the issue.