GIFT SCAM is the latest embarrassment to the scam-hit UPA government. Now the Foreign Minister S M Krishna seems to have carried gifts for his hosts during his official visit to Malaysia in May 2011.

The scam has come to light only now when the undistributed gifts were unwrapped on his return to India. Instead of silver, the gifts were all of brass. The magnitude of this scam might never be known. It seems the bill for one of the gift items put up by the MEA was of Rs 40,000 but the actual price paid was Rs 14,000, it was not of silver but of an inferior material.

This has not only embarrassed but shamed the nation. No one knows as to who is the mastermind – it could be the tip of an iceberg. This cannot be written off as an isolated incident but might have been going on for ages – the lid has come off only now. It certainly was not a one-man show but must have involved several persons. The matter needs to be probed till its logical conclusion and the culprits who brought shame to the nation be identified and punished.