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New Delhi: As more
high-profile names cropped up in connection with bribery
allegations in the $750 million VVIP chopper deal, the Indian
government Friday put the contract with Italian firm Finmevcanica
on hold and began the process to cancel it.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has been
entrusted to probe the bribery allegations, is likely to send a
team to Italy within a week to probe the alleged around 51 million
euro crore kickbacks paid by Finmeccanica to clinch the deal.
In a three-para statement, the ministry of defence said it has
"initiated action for cancellation of contract for procurement of
12 AW101 helicopters for the use of VVIPs".
It also issued a formal show cause notice to AgustaWestland, the
subsidiary of Finmeccanica, seeking cancellation of contract and
"taking other actions as per the terms of the contract and the
Integrity Pact". The company has been given seven days to reply.
The action comes a day after the government warned Finmeccanica of
legal action, including blacklisting, and asked whether any slush
money had been paid to fix the deal that has led to a political
uproar.
The defence procurement scam came to light when the Italian
government arrested Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi Tuesday for
allegedly paying bribes to clinch the chopper deal.
The government launched a CBI probe into the bribery charges on
Tuesday.
Clarifying its position, the government Thursday had noted that
the mandatory technical requirements of the chopper were changed
in the tender during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2003,
with the then national security adviser Brajesh Mishra playing a
key role.
It had also noted that the changes in the tender were incorporated
during March 2005 to September 2006 when Pranab Mukherjee was
defence minister and S.P. Tyagi was the Air Chief. Mukherjee is
now president of India and Tyagi is facing allegations that three
of his kin took kickbacks to swing the deal.
The defence ministry has asked the external affairs ministry for
more information from Rome on the AgustaWestland chopper deal,
said a source.
In Rome, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has said his
government would guarantee the "correct governance" of
state-controlled defence firm Finmeccanica.
"The government was able to intervene with some measures to
guarantee the correct governance of the company and the whole
group," Monti said.
The Italian prime minister had earlier promised to do "whatever
necessary to clean up" Finmeccanica.
He also assured that the prosecution would do its duty in the case
of Orsi.
"I am sure that the prosecution in this case will do its duty as
in other similar cases," he told reporters.
India has inducted only three of the 12 AgustaWestland-101
helicopters till now, with the remaining nine slated for delivery
later this year.
India so far reported to have paid a part of the total amount to
AgustaWestland, the Britain-based subsidiary of Finmeccanica.
The government move can be seen in the light of the upcoming
budget session of the parliament, beginning Feb 21, which could
see the government put in the dock over the bribery allegations.
Former Air Chief Tyagi and his three kin -- Julie, Docsa and
Sanjeev - have denied allegations of receiving kickbacks of around
Rs.72 lakh from middlemen.
The Italian probe report suggests that the former IAF chief had
met the middlemen more than six to seven times and allegedly
briefed them about the developments in the contract.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has compared the defence
scam to Bofors, slammed the government for "unnecessarily"
dragging the National Democratic Alliance into the chopper deal.
"First, they deny the existence of a scam; then they try to evade
an answer. They try not to have an inquiry, their mission is to
cover up and deflect attention to some other issue," BJP
spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here.
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