Since Modi government is known for taking prompt action against the leaders of the opposition or officials who turn inconvenient or against the political or other interests of the ruling establishment, the delay in this matter indicates unwillingness of the government to take any swift action against the culprits the reason of which is best known only to political leadership or higher officials.

So far, neither the super-active Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) nor the Enforcement Directorate has come into the scene. Even vigilance of the Indian Railways is keeping mum on the issue. Income Tax Department is sleeping while the bribe amounting about $400,000 changed hands. Even after the case was much publicizes, two officers privy to the development have been quoted by media that the Indian Railways may consider blacklisting of Oracle Corporation if an internal inquiry into allegations that the database software maker’s Indian arm paid bribes to the railway officials is established. They talked about only blacklisting, but not launching prosecution for the criminal offence of bribery.

According to the report, the terms of reference of the internal inquiry by the Indian Railways, it would ascertain facts based on which the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), have fined Oracle $23 million in a September 27, 2022 order for bribery.

It has already come on record of US SEC that $400,000 were paid to the officials between 2016 and 2019, a period when Piyush Goel was the Minister of Railways. The Modi government’s action so far indicates apparent unwillingness to investigate the case promptly, otherwise how can the delay be explained?

Oracle, the US company, has already admitted to having created a “slush fund” which was used to bribe officials of “transportation company, a majority of which was owned by the Indian Ministry of Railways”. Following an investigation by SEC, Oracle agreed to pay a penalty of $23 million for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of the United States.

As per the SEC records, Oracle used its India arm, Oracle India Private Limited registered in New Delhi, to devise a clever method of bribing. An approval was taken from the parent company for giving a 70 per cent discount on the product to the transportation company while the latter was billed in full. The difference was slush fund thus created and used to bribe.

Moreover, there was no competition in the tender, since the Indian Railways had mandated the use of Oracle products for the project. The SEC order also stated, “Due to the size of the discount, Oracle required an employee based in France to approve the request. The Oracle designee provided approval for the discount without requiring the sales employee to provide further documentary support for the request.”

Oracle bribery case is not the only case of corruption in the Indian Railways. There are several others with different modus operandi, such as cartelization. In one of such cases the Competition Commission of India has directed eight MSMEs on October 11, 2022, to cease and desist from unfair business practices but refrained from imposing penalties on them considering the current situation of the sector.
The regulator said that the current situation of MSME sector in India is already under stress and bearing the impact of the economic situation arising from the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. In such a situation, if any penalty were to be imposed on these firms, it may render these firms economically unviable and some of these firms may even exit the market and further reduce the competition.

A detailed probe by the regulator’s investigation arm Director General had found that the firms indulged in cartelization during 2015 to 2019. They quoted identical bids in the tender floated for axle bearing which is used for certain railway coaches. The tender was floated by the Eastern Railway.

Thus, we see weird logics for delaying or not taking action against the systemic loot and corruption in Indian Railways. Corruption weakens a public sector enterprise, and in many cases by a bigger nexus of politicians, officials, and some private entities or companies. No action is taken against such corrupt practice and a time comes when people are told that the public enterprise is in dire situation, and it could be revived or strengthened only through privatization. Indian Railways seems to be a victim of such an approach. Corruption and privatization must therefore be seen in conjunction with each other. Slowing down action is corruption cases and speeding up the move for privatization is something unacceptable, whatsoever the logic government may put forward.

Such episodes expose corruption under Modi government, but there are not many who can dare to raise fingers against the ruling establishment due to fear of reprisal or intimidation through ED, CBI or Income Tax Department raids. People are being silenced, and Modi’s followers amplify the claim that his government has effectively controlled corruption, which is false.

Modi government has been prompt in taking actions against their opponents and the leader of the political parties in opposition. They are haunted until they fall in line. However, when they join hands with the BJP, the progress in the cases slowed down or buried.