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''Any such charge will be an offensive towards the army and do great injustice to it. The army was fighting a war at that time," Fernandes told reporters hours after both houses of Parliament adjourned following uproar over the CAG issue with Opposition demanding his resignation.
Asked what kind of responsibility he would like to take in the wake of the CAG's findings, Fernandes said, "It is for the PAC to fix the responsibility. We leave it to the PAC to decide."
To a question on whether he 'smelled a rat' in the transaction for the caskets, he said ''I don't know what anybody can smell in this''.
Stating that the government had cancelled the contract with United States firm Victor Baiz after 150 caskets, weighing 54 kg each, received were found not up to the specifications, he said the defence ministry has written to the firm to return the balance of Rs 10.2 million.
"In case the firm fails to refund the balance money, government will go in for arbitration," he said.
He said information sent by the army's 66 Infantry Brigade, which was part of the United Nations mission in Somalia in 1994, that the caskets were available for $172 was based on 'hearsay' and there was nothing given in writing.
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