Firm Accused Of Bribing In 3.5K-Cr Copter Deal
New Delhi: The government on Wednesday put on hold all further payments to AgustaWestland, the UKbased company accused of paying kickbacks in the Rs 3,546-crore deal for VVIP helicopters inked by India in 2010, in a grim bid to contain the political fallout from the fresh scam to have hit the UPA-II government.
AgustaWestland, the subsidiary of Italian military giant Finmeccanica, has also been asked to explain if it had paid any commissions to middlemen in the deal in the light of filings in an Italian court. According to government sources, ministry of defence (MoD) has written to the company asking it to state if it paid any individual or firms any sort of commission in the VVIP helicopter deal. The allegation that bribes were paid to bag the Indian contract marks a violation of the anti-graft “integrity clause” in the country’s defence deals. This is liable to be punished with cancellation of the order, blacklisting of the offender, stiff financial penalty and even criminal prosecution.
The decision to block future payment represented a decisive move, perfectly commensurate with the need to contain the political fallout from the latest scandal to have hit the beleaguered UPA. The Centre has paid up a little over 50% of the payment, and a fresh tranche was set to be released this month. “We have put on hold all future payments until we complete the review of the contract,” said a senior governm- ent official.
Sources said the government has not taken a final decision on stopping deliveries of the remaining nine helicopters — three have already been inducted by the IAF. The next delivery of three helicopters is expected in March, with the remaining six to be delivered by July.
Significantly, however, defence minister A K Antony has stressed that the government would lose no money if it were to scrap the contract. “The Indian government will not lose a single pie. As per the defence procurement procedure and the integrity pact signed with the company, we can even get back the entire money paid to the vendor, apart from making it liable for criminal action,” said
Antony — a statement suggesting that government could travel the whole distance if political considerations required so.
India’s defence secretary Shashikant Sharma asked the Indian ambassador in Italy to formally procure the Italian court documents detailing alleged payment of 51 million euros as kickbacks in the deal for the 12 swank AW-101 helicopters with selfdefence suites.
“We cannot put the deal on hold based on media reports. We need authentic information, so that our interests, financial and military, are not compromised,” a senior official said.
He also pointed out that the government had been seeking formal information from the Indian embassies for long but until now nothing had emerged.
Acquisition of 197 choppers for Army and IAF put off
New Delhi: The fallout of the exploding VVIP chopper scandal claimed its first casualty on Wednesday. The Defence Acquisitions Council chaired by A K Antony deferred a decision to proceed with the acquisition of 197 light utility helicopters for the Army and IAF.
The DAC was to consider the technical oversight committee report on complaints of technical deviations during flight evaluation trials, in which the Russian Kamov Ka-226T was pitted against Eurocopter AS 550 C3 Fennec. But, sources said, it was kept pending due to the ongoing controversy. Italian authorities probing the VVIP chopper deal had claimed that a brigadier had demanded $5m to swing the deal for AgustaWestland. TNN
COURTESY:
Josy Joseph TNN
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/02/14&PageLabel=11&EntityId=Ar01100&ViewMode=HTML
New Delhi: The government on Wednesday put on hold all further payments to AgustaWestland, the UKbased company accused of paying kickbacks in the Rs 3,546-crore deal for VVIP helicopters inked by India in 2010, in a grim bid to contain the political fallout from the fresh scam to have hit the UPA-II government.
AgustaWestland, the subsidiary of Italian military giant Finmeccanica, has also been asked to explain if it had paid any commissions to middlemen in the deal in the light of filings in an Italian court. According to government sources, ministry of defence (MoD) has written to the company asking it to state if it paid any individual or firms any sort of commission in the VVIP helicopter deal. The allegation that bribes were paid to bag the Indian contract marks a violation of the anti-graft “integrity clause” in the country’s defence deals. This is liable to be punished with cancellation of the order, blacklisting of the offender, stiff financial penalty and even criminal prosecution.
The decision to block future payment represented a decisive move, perfectly commensurate with the need to contain the political fallout from the latest scandal to have hit the beleaguered UPA. The Centre has paid up a little over 50% of the payment, and a fresh tranche was set to be released this month. “We have put on hold all future payments until we complete the review of the contract,” said a senior governm- ent official.
Sources said the government has not taken a final decision on stopping deliveries of the remaining nine helicopters — three have already been inducted by the IAF. The next delivery of three helicopters is expected in March, with the remaining six to be delivered by July.
Significantly, however, defence minister A K Antony has stressed that the government would lose no money if it were to scrap the contract. “The Indian government will not lose a single pie. As per the defence procurement procedure and the integrity pact signed with the company, we can even get back the entire money paid to the vendor, apart from making it liable for criminal action,” said
Antony — a statement suggesting that government could travel the whole distance if political considerations required so.
India’s defence secretary Shashikant Sharma asked the Indian ambassador in Italy to formally procure the Italian court documents detailing alleged payment of 51 million euros as kickbacks in the deal for the 12 swank AW-101 helicopters with selfdefence suites.
“We cannot put the deal on hold based on media reports. We need authentic information, so that our interests, financial and military, are not compromised,” a senior official said.
He also pointed out that the government had been seeking formal information from the Indian embassies for long but until now nothing had emerged.
Acquisition of 197 choppers for Army and IAF put off
New Delhi: The fallout of the exploding VVIP chopper scandal claimed its first casualty on Wednesday. The Defence Acquisitions Council chaired by A K Antony deferred a decision to proceed with the acquisition of 197 light utility helicopters for the Army and IAF.
The DAC was to consider the technical oversight committee report on complaints of technical deviations during flight evaluation trials, in which the Russian Kamov Ka-226T was pitted against Eurocopter AS 550 C3 Fennec. But, sources said, it was kept pending due to the ongoing controversy. Italian authorities probing the VVIP chopper deal had claimed that a brigadier had demanded $5m to swing the deal for AgustaWestland. TNN
COURTESY:
Josy Joseph TNN
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/02/14&PageLabel=11&EntityId=Ar01100&ViewMode=HTML
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