The agent, a German, was allegedly caught trying to bribe Indian defense officials to replace a Eurojet commercial bid with that of a lower one after discovering that the bid was higher than others, the 24-hour English-language news television channel News X said.

But the attempt backfired, News X said. Shortly after his alleged bribery was discovered, he was told to leave the county immediately, which he did last month. The agent, identified as "von Schoenfeld," had worked in New Delhi for eight years.

After leaving India, he reportedly told Indian media -- before any announcement by Indian defense officials -- that the Eurojet bid was the lowest bid, in particular 18 percent lower than that of General Electric.

A report in India's Business Standard newspaper said it had knowledge that the European consortium Eurojet bid $666 million for the 99 engines, against General Electric's bid of $822 million.

The agent's disclosures to the media prompted the military's Defense Research and Development Organization to issue a statement ahead of officially awarding the contract, saying that GE Avionics with their GE F414 engine was the lowest bidder for the contract.

"After evaluation and acceptance of the technical offer provided by both Eurojet and GE Aviation, the commercial quotes were compared in detail and GE Aviation was declared as the lowest bidder," the statement said. "Further price negotiations and contract finalization will follow."

The tender for the engines also noted that only 10 engines could be built abroad with the rest being made in India through a technology transfer agreement with Indian businesses. First deliveries of the engine are expected in 2014.

The apparent win for GE is a blow for Eurojet's hope of placing its EJ200 unit in the indigenously produced Indian light combat aircraft the Tejas, nearing the end of its development by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, based in Bangalore.

The EJ200 is a turbofan unit developed in 1991 and built by Eurojet in Germany. The unit is based on the Rolls-Royce XG-40 technology demonstrator engine that was developed starting in 1984. The EJ200 also powers the Eurofighter Typhoon.

The General Electric F414 is an afterburning turbofan engine developed from F404 turbofan for use in the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. It was first run in 1993.

The first Tejas flew in January 2001. GE already has experience of working with HAL because its earlier version of the F414, the F404, is used in the several test planes.

The Tejas -- Sanskrit for "radiant" -- is a lightweight multi-role fighter. The compound delta-wing design plane is powered by a single engine. Winning the initial engine order could place the manufacturer a position to win many more.

The Indian air force is likely to need 200 single-seat and 20 two-seat trainers. The Indian navy is said to want up to 40 single-seaters to replace its aging fleet of Sea Harrier FRS.51 and Harrier T.60. The first Harriers, made by Hawker Siddeley in the United Kingdom, first flew in 1969. Subsequent development of the aircraft has been by McDonnell, Douglas and British Aerospace, as well as Boeing and BAE Systems.

During its sea level flight trials off Goa on India's western coast, the Tejas reached more than 840 miles per hour, becoming the second supersonic fighter manufactured indigenously by HAL, after the Marut.

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