Indian government has started process for cancellation of helicopters deal with the Italian firm, Finmeccanica.
New Delhi, Feb 15/Nationalturk – After bribery allegations in chopper deal, Indian government Friday started process for cancellation of helicopters deal with the Italian firm, Finmeccanica.
“The Defence Ministry has initiated action for cancellation of contract for procurement of 12 AW101 helicopters for the use of VVIPs,” an Indian defence ministry spokesman said.
He said Defence Ministry today issued a formal show cause notice to UK’s AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italian defence giant Finmeccanica seeking cancellation of contract and taking other actions as per the terms of the contract and the Integrity Pact.
“The Defence Ministry has already put on hold further payments to the company on Wednesday. With today’s show cause notice, the operation of the contract has been put on hold. The company has been asked to reply to the notice in seven days,” added the spokesman.
‘Kicbacks worth Rs 360 Crores (INR) were paid’
The entire deal was worth about Rs 4,000 crores (Indian currency). The Italian inquiry says kickbacks added upto 360 crores.
According to media reports, Italian inquiry report has said middleman Ralph Haschke has “confessed” that he met six or seven times with the then Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi, who supplied updates on the progress in the tender. “Haschke once greeted Air Chief Marshal Tyagi by touching his feet as a sign of respect,” the Italian prosecutors claim.
The report says that 100,000 Euros in cash was delivered by Haschke to the Tyagi brothers in their office. The payments were made through Tunisia-registered companies controlled by Haschke and Gerosa and were then transferred to accounts in India and Mauritius,” it said.
The scam is pivoted on the assumption that the requirements for the 12 helicopters were changed to benefit AgustaWestland. In 2003, when the rightwing party BJP-led NDA was in power in India, the flying altitude for the choppers was reduced from 18,000 to 15,000 feet.
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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk India News
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