The Scorpene deal scam is one of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

's largest bribery corruption scandals, in which Rs. 500 crore (about USD 10 mn)
is alleged to have been paid to government decision makers by Thales

Thales

Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor, and one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition...

, the makers of the Scorpene submarine. The amount was channeled via middlemen such as Abhishek Verma. Also involved was Ravi Shankaran

Ravi Shankaran

Retired Lt. Commander Ravi Shankaran is an Indian weapons dealer and accused spy. He is the prime accused in the "Naval war room spy scandal", linked to the Scorpene Deal scam. In the scam, a number of documents stolen from the Navy war room were leaked to Thales, the maker of Scorpene submarines...

, a relative of the then chief of navy staff Arun Prakash

Arun Prakash

Admiral Arun Prakash PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, Indian Navy, served as Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee from 31 July 2004 to 31 October 2006...

. He is the prime accused in the Navy War Room spy scandal.

In October 2005, defence minister Pranab Mukherjee

Pranab Mukherjee

Pranab Kumar Mukherjee is the current Finance Minister of India and leader of the current Lok Sabha.Mukherjee is a senior member of the Cabinet Committees on Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, Prices, Security, Unique Identification Authority of India,...

approved the Rs 19,000 crore submarine deal with French company Thales. Scorpene submarines are now being built in India under a technology transfer agreement that was part of that contract.