Antony orders probe into VVIP copter deal

Sam2012

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:: Bharat-Rakshak.com - Indian Military News Headlines ::

Salman Khurshid opposes scrapping of VVIP chopper deal

Antony saab may be khurshid sir has not got his share of kickbacks , plz arrange for the same & Don't forget our Zail hamid Dig Vijay singh pls give to him as well or else he will bark so loud that whole India will get tremors
 

nrupatunga

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Rediff: Renuka chaudhary may head the JPC on chopper deal.
I remember that when times now started few years back, they had showed a news bit where renuka who was a tourism minister (am not sure but certainly a ministry which is not concerned with any defence matter) in Upa I had written a letter to then defence minister(pranab mukerjee??) stating how a certain deal is good or something like that. Times now had posed a Q that why is she doing this?? They wanted why she is lobbying on behalf of middleman??

Now if she heads this, she would just shout and stare down any opposition.
 

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VVIP chopper deal: CBI questions brother of former Union Minister

New Delhi: CBI today quizzed the industrialist-brother of former union minister Santosh Bagrodia's Satish Bagrodia who is the Chairman of IDS Infotech, one of the suspect companies in the alleged bribery scandal in Rs.3600-crore VVIP Chopper deal.

CBI sources said IDS Infotech, a software company, has been named in its preliminary enquiry as one of the companies which was allegedly used to route the bribe money from Tunisia and Mauritius under the garb of engineering and other contracts.

The agency has named IDS Infotech in its preliminary enquiry but Satish Bagrodia is not named, the sources said.

They said Satish Bagrodia was questioned about alleged channeling of the bribe money through his company by Italian middlemen.

The sources claimed the industrialist refuted the allegations and said he did not interefere in the day-to-day working of the company which is handled by other senior executives and board members.

The name of IDS Infotech had cropped up in the report submitted by Italian Prosecutor which alleged the share of the bribe money to be distributed in India was routed through it under the cover of fake vouchers for software-related work.

The company had refuted all the allegations.

The report alleged IDS Infotech generated fake bills for software work for helicopter firm AgustaWestland to pump in the alleged bribe money from Tunisia and Mauritius.

The helicopter deal with AgustaWestland came under the scanner after the head of its parent Italian aerospace company Finmeccanica, that is suspected of paying bribes of about Rs.362 crore in India to get orders for the helicopters, was arrested, prompting the government to order a CBI probe.

-PTI
 

Ray

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Another eyewash.

I heard saw the TV debate on India's attempt to get Davy, the mastermind of the Purulia Arms Drop.

Peter Bleach, the other accused, now freed because of diplomatic reasons after spending many years in Alipore Jail in Kolkata, had Joginder Singh the CBI director when the case was investigated in knots, wherein Bleach said that his confessional statement where he named those involved, was not given to the court.

Joginder first tried to avoid it by stating that he could not remember the issue, it being 18 years ago and then he said it was not put up because of 'national security' reason!

In fact, it was said that Davy's location was told by a Swedish police officer to India, but India and CBI sent their people hotfoot all over the world to include South Africa and Peru, amongst other nations.

Joginder Singh very vociferously said it was not done in his time, but did not deny that the wild goose chase was a charade to throw the scent off!

That is the credibility of the CBI!

Let probes after probes happen, but nothing will be unveiled that is uncomfortable and pinpoint corrupt people!
 
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Ray

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:: Bharat-Rakshak.com - Indian Military News Headlines ::

Salman Khurshid opposes scrapping of VVIP chopper deal

Antony saab may be khurshid sir has not got his share of kickbacks , plz arrange for the same & Don't forget our Zail hamid Dig Vijay singh pls give to him as well or else he will bark so loud that whole India will get tremors
And the best part is that this is not a defence deal either that can cause some void in defence preparedbess.

It is for politicians joyrides.

How come Salmon Khurhsed does not show such sagacity and alacrity when it comes to scrapping genuine defence deals?

Is this helicopter deal is a a nudge nudge wink wink case?
 

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VVIP chopper deal: AgustaWestland on offensive, asks Indian government to clarify status of deal
New Delhi: Even as the CBI continues its probe into the allegations of bribery in the Rs. 4000-crore VVIP chopper deal, the Anglo-Italian manufacturer of the helicopters, AgustaWestland, has formally asked the Indian Defence Ministry to clarify its stand on the status of the 12-helicopter contract.

The CBI began its probe into the scam after Italian prosecutors alleged that officials of Finmeccanica, the parent company of AgustaWestland, had bribed top Indian officials, including former Air Chief SP Tyagi, to land the contract for the choppers.

Although there was initially a possibility of the contract being terminated by the MoD, the ministry has so far refrained from doing so because of the ongoing CBI inquiry in India and the prosecution process in Italy.

Sources have told NDTV that no decision has been taken yet on what should be done with the first three Agusta helicopters that have been delivered to the Indian Air Force. Three more helicopters are ready for delivery in the UK but because of lack of clarity on the status of the contract, their fate continues to hang in balance.

In a letter to the MoD, Anglo-Italian defence giant AgustaWestland has said the company is constrained to invoke a contract clause and initiate formal legal process for bilateral discussion to resolve the dispute. This, sources say, might force the Defence Ministry to take a clear position on the status of the contract that involves supply of 12 helicopters for use by Indian Prime Minister and other top dignitaries.

In the letter, AgustaWestland's Managing Director Raymond Edwards has also denied any wrong doing and has said, "We can state unequivocally that we have never knowingly breached any procurement rules." He has also alleged that the company has not received any reply to its previous correspondence to the MoD.

Sources in the MoD have confirmed to NDTV that the ministry has received the April 16 letter from Agusta but has not replied to it yet.

Meanwhile, the CBI is preparing to send requests to Italy, UK, Tunisia and Mauritius seeking more information on Indian companies suspected to be involved in the Rs. 4,000-crore scam
VVIP chopper deal: AgustaWestland on offensive, asks Indian government to clarify status of deal | NDTV.com
 

arnabmit

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VVIP chopper scam: CBI may get Agusta phone transcripts tomorrow

Italian authorities may hand over to the CBI tomorrow the crucial telephone transcripts in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP helicopter scam, a move which may help it in expediting the probe into the case.

According to highly-placed sources, the documents are expected to be handed over to Indian mission officials in Milan on Monday after which these would be sent here for scrutiny and ascertaining the role of middlemen and others in the case.

The transcripts, which are likely to be handed over to the CBI, would help it carry forward its probe in the Rs 362 crore bribery scandal in which the then Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi is also an accused, the sources said.

The records are crucial to the CBI probe as they reportedly contain several conversations related to the alleged remittances made to cousins of Tyagi and other middlemen to clinch the deal, they said.

The sources said a set of over 40,000 documents related to contours of money trail has already been received by the CBI from the Italian court after Defence Ministry became a civil party in the ongoing case in the European country.

However, they did not carry crucial phone conversations intercepted by the law enforcement agencies there.

CBI has also hired lawyers in Italy to represent it in the case.

With the help of phone intercepts, the agency wants to corroborate claims made in these conversations with the details of actual fund transfers to bolster its evidence against the accused in the chopper scam.

They said the records are related to phone conversations which were tapped by Italian authorities who have quoted them in their preliminary enquiry report on the basis of which they have started investigations into the alleged involvement of Italian company Finmeccanica, its UK-based subsidiary AgustaWestland and their top executives.
 

arnabmit

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VVIP Chopper deal: India receives fresh tranche of documents | idrw.org

India has received a fresh tranche of crucial documents from Italy in connection with Rs 3,600 crore VVIP helicopter deal which is likely to help CBI in expediting the probe into the bribery scam allegedly involving the then Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi.

CBI sources said a DIG Mahipal Yadav returned today from Milan where the trial against the then executives of Finmeccanica and AgustaWestland are being prosecuted by the Italian authorities for alleged international corruption.

India is being represented as civil party in the case by Defence Ministry. They said CBI was expecting to get copies of transcripts of phone conversations of middlemen which were intercepted by the Italian agencies but it may take some time because of court's procedural issues.

The sources said a fresh tranche of documents have been handed over to the Indian mission on the orders of the Milan court but did not give their details as it might compromise their ongoing probe by the agency.

The sources said a set of over 40,000 documents related to contours of money trail has already been received by the CBI from the Italian court after Defence Ministry became a civil party in the ongoing case in the European country.

The sources said once CBI gets these records it might question Tyagi and other accused again before starting to prepare the charge sheet against the accused.

CBI which carried out probe in India had named 13 individuals, including Tyagi and European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Christian Michel and Guido Haschke, in the FIR as accused, in connection with the alleged bribery.
 

arnabmit

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CAG report exposes flaws in VVIP chopper deal | idrw.org

The process of acquiring VVIP choppers for the Indian Air Force IAF) deviated from the laid down procedures and caused delays, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report said on Tuesday.

The CAG report, tabled in parliament, said as the acquisition was delayed the IAF continued to face operations disadvantage on account of use of ageing helicopters.

"The benchmarked cost adopted by the contract negotiating committee was unreasonably high compared to the offer cost," it said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation is looking into alleged kickbacks in the $750 million (Rs.3,600 crore) deal for 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters for the IAF's elite Communication Squadron, which ferries the president, prime minister and other VVIPs.

A case has also been registered against former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi.

The scam came to light when the Italian government arrested chopper maker Finmeccanica's CEO Giuseppe Orsi in February for allegedly paying bribes to clinch the deal.

On the evaluation of the choppers, the CAG said that trials for the AgustaWestland model were conducted on representative Merlin helicopters and not on the actual craft whereas the other contender, Sikorsky, had offered its S-92 for try-outs.

"Even at the stage of trials, the AgustaWestland chopper was in a developmental phase. Evaluation of helicopter following different methodologies could not give desired assurance that equal opportunity was provided to both shortlisted vendors.

"Thus, the recommendation and assurance given by the Chief of Air Staff in October 2007 to conduct trials abroad lacked justification," the report said.

The CAG also questioned the offsets obligations carried out by AgustaWestland, saying there was "ambiguity in the contract regarding the type of services and export orders to be executed by IDS Infotech (its Indian offsets partner)".

"AgustaWestland gave a year-wise break up of work from 2011 to 2014 to be executed by IDS Infotech under this offset programme even though the work had been completed well before the conclusion of the contract in 2010," the report said.

The Anglo-Italian firm had projected seven programmes to be completed as part of the offsets contract but "these allowed offsets were not compliant with the DPP.

"Besides many Indian offsets partners selected for discharge of offsets obligations were not eligible," the CAG added.

The CAG further blamed the Defence Ministry and the Air Force for causing an inordinate delay in the acquisition process through their "failure" to devise realistic qualitative requirements for the procurement of the choppers.

The qualitative requirements for the VVIP helicopters were revised by the ministry and IAF, leading to restricted competition in the tender process and resulting ultimately in a single-vendor situation, the CAG observed.

According to the report, IAF had told the ministry in 2004 that a service ceiling of 6,000m was an "inescapable operational necessity as many areas in north and northeastern regions of the country would be accessible only with a service ceiling of 6,000m".

"It (IAF) had also opined that making the cabin height of 1.8m a mandatory requirement would lead to a single vendor situation as in that case only the (AgustaWestland) AW 101 would comply with the (criterion)," the report said.

But the CAG noted that in a meeting convened in May 2005 by the Defence Secretary and attended by the Deputy Chief of Air Staff, "it was decided inter alia to lower the altitude requirement to 4,500m (from 6,000m) and make the cabin height of at least 1.8m (from 1.45m) a mandatory requirement."

The CAG pointed out that the Defence Ministry, in a April 2013 reply, had stated that the service ceiling was set at 4,500m with the approval of the Chief of Air Staff in March 2005 to bring it in conformity with the service ceiling of Mi-8 choppers.

"The ministry's reply is not consistent with the assertion by IAF in their brief to the Defence Secretary in Jan. 2004 that the requirement of 6,000m was an 'inescapable operational necessity'," it said.

The CAG also observed that the ministry's reply about the Mi-8"²s service ceiling being 4,500m was not consistent as the IAF had stated it was unable to operate at elevations above 2,000m.

The auditor also rejected the ministry's assertion that all six vendors who were issued tenders in 2006 were capable of providing helicopters with a cabin height of 1.8m.

"The ministry's reply is not acceptable as at least one European competitor, EADS, to whom a Request for Proposal was issued did not have any helicopters with the required cabin height of 1.8m," it said.

The CAG said the "fact remains that by making the cabin height of 1.8m a mandatory requirement, the competition was restricted, resulting in a single vendor situation".

"The purpose of re-framing qualitative requirements to avoid a single vendor situation could not be met because even after the revision, the acquisition process led to a single vendor situation and the (AgustaWestland) AW-101 was selected," the CAG said.
 

ramakrishna

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nothing gona happen with these reports .... no justice be done ... none can get punishment .... its another way of wasting tax payers money
 

SajeevJino

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India set to cancel deal with AgustaWestland


India has decided to cancel a scandal-tainted chopper deal with Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland, prejudging the outcome of a meeting on Wednesday between company executives and Defence Ministry officials to discuss the contract, three sources said.

The decision draws a line under a dispute that has embarrassed a government heading into elections under a cloud of corruption scandals, and could re-open the contract to rivals, including United Technologies Corp's(UTX.N) Sikorsky Aircraft, EADS'(EAD.PA) Eurocopter and Lockheed Martin(LMT.N).

Scrapping the 560 million euro deal to buy 12 helicopters for top politicians will not necessarily lead to New Delhi blacklisting the firm, sources have said, a move some officials fear would set back efforts to modernise the military.

However, it closes a chapter of the struggle by AgustaWestland, a division of Italian defence group Finmeccanica(SIFI.MI), to keep the contract alive.

A senior Defence Ministry official said there was no hope that AgustaWestland officials could salvage the deal in the meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

"This is just a face-saving exercise by Agusta. But the government has already decided to cancel the deal because they have violated the integrity pact," said one of two sources in the ministry who declined to identified.

A spokesman for Finmeccanica declined to comment.

Under the defence procurement rules, the integrity pact prohibits paying or accepting bribes. The government can cancel a contract if the pact is violated, and the seller has to forfeit any security money it deposited as a bidder.

Last month, AgustaWestland called for arbitration in the dispute, but Defence Ministry sources say there is no case for this because the firm breached the integrity pact.

However, under the rules, it could still take the case to an Indian court.

The deal for the AW101 helicopters went off track in February after the then-chief executive of Finmeccanica was arrested by Italian police for allegedly paying bribes to secure the deal, prompting India to freeze payments to the company.

AgustaWestland said last month that suspension of payment was not provided for under the terms of the contract and that Indian authorities had not responded to its requests for bilateral discussions since April.

Italy and India are separately investigating the allegations. AgustaWestland denies any wrongdoing.

India set to cancel deal with AgustaWestland: sources | Reuters
 

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Defence Ministry May Ease Temporary Ban on Finmeccannica

NEW DELHI: India's recent decision to put on hold all deals with Italian defence firm Finmeccannica may be eased, with Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi advising against blanket blacklisting as it could have adverse impact on the country's defence preparedness. Finmeccannica, the parent company of AgustaWestland, is facing a CBI probe in the VVIP chopper scam and the Defence Ministry recently put on hold all deals with it in the wake of charges of kickbacks in the deal. The Defence Ministry had sought the opinion of AG on whether the company should be blacklisted in view of the corruption charges, highly-placed sources said. In his opinion, the AG has cautioned against blacklisting Finmeccanica, arguing that it could hurt the process of acquisition and preparedness. The decision will not have any effect on the ongoing CBI probe against the firm and it will continue, they said. It has been felt that blacklisting or putting on hold business with firms facing CBI probes ultimately affects the operational preparedness of the armed forces only as it limits the options available with them for procurements, they said. Such a decision also affects the serviceability of the equipment that is already in service as spares and tools cannot be bought from them due to blacklisting or other restrictions, the sources said. After the temporary ban is eased, the ministry is planning to take up defence deals worth around Rs 15,000 crore which had been deferred in the past due to Finemccannica linkages, in the meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council, Ministry sources said. Finmeccannica is the parent firm of AgustaWestland, whose Rs 3,600 crore deal to supply 12 VVIP choppers has been cancelled due to allegations of corruption and breach of pre-contract obligations by the previous UPA government.
Defence Ministry May Ease Temporary Ban on Finmeccannica - The New Indian Express
 

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I was informed by a very senior IAF chopper pilot, last year, that Chief Tyagi was innocent. The corruption was at the level of one of his staff officers.

the blame IMO should be with the previous Chief.
 

sob

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Cross posting from another thread, I had written this in 2013

I have had the occasion to meet the air Chief socially on a couple of social occasions, once when he was the Chief and more recently last month after the scandal had broken out. All I can say that he is the convenient scapegoat. The most he is guilty of having such cousins who have taken advantage of his position. He should have been more careful.
http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/...iaf-chief-sp-tyagi-in-fir.48589/#post-1053930
 

ersakthivel

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I was informed by a very senior IAF chopper pilot, last year, that Chief Tyagi was innocent. The corruption was at the level of one of his staff officers.

the blame IMO should be with the previous Chief.
I was informed by a very senior IAF chopper pilot, last year, that Chief Tyagi was innocent. The corruption was at the level of one of his staff officers.

the blame IMO should be with the previous Chief.
SO all his cousins who are accused also had no relation with the Augusta westland?
 

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