AgustaWestland deal: CBI gets some documents from Italy

AgustaWestland deal: CBI gets some documents from Italy

Moving forward in its probe into

alleged kickbacks in the VVIP helicopter deal, the CBI has

procured some documents from Italian authorities in Milan that

may help it investigating whether any Indian had received

bribes to swing the deal in favour of AgustaWestland.

           Highly-placed sources in the probe agency said today

that one of the members of the CBI team who returned this

morning from Milan had got some of the documents from the

Italian prosecutor regarding the controversial Rs 3,600 crore

deal which would be examined in the next couple of days.

The sources said a Preliminary Enquiry(PE) would be

initiated in the next couple of days after examining the

documents received from the Italian authorities. It has been

alleged that kickbacks to the tune of Rs 362 crore were

allegedly paid to help secure the deal in favour of the

Anglo-Italian firm.

             While declining to reveal the nature of documents, the

sources said prima-facie it seemed sufficient to initiate a PE

against unknown persons since Italian authorities could share

only these papers at this stage. The authorities have,

however, promised to hand over other documents once their

probe is completed.

             One of the two CBI officers was still in Milan to take

some more documents and would be arriving here tomorrow, the

sources said.

             The CBI team is also pinning its hope on the assurance

made by the Italian government-controlled Finmeccanica group,

parent company of AgustaWestland helicopters, that it would

provide assistance in probing bribery allegations against some

Indian nationals.

             During the meeting, CBI officials had requested the

Italian firm to hand over the report of its internal probe to

them so that it could be examined in India and a proper

investigation could be conducted.

      The CBI team along with officials from Defence and

External Affairs Ministry had also met senior officials of the

Italian judiciary including the judge in the case to request

for assistance in probing the role of Indians in connection

with alleged kickbacks in the deal.

             Some more assistance would be provided after the local

elections in Italy would be over this week, the team was told

besides been conveyed that that the probe in that country was

at a preliminary stage