Chopper deal: India
reply to its show cause notice, the Defence
Ministry is
writing to the firm specifically asking about its
linkages
with software companies allegedly used as a cover
for paying
kickbacks in the VVIP chopper deal.
The
Ministry will specifically ask about AgusaWestkand's
transactions with Tunisia
and Aeromatrix, sources told PTI here.
The
names of IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix have figured in
the investigations by Italian authorities in the
context of
allegedly routing a portion of the kickbacks in the
Rs 3,600
helicopter deal.
The firm is expected to
be given one week's time to the
to provide detailed answers to the clarifications sought by
the Defence Ministry, they said.
A show cause notice was
issued by the Defence Ministry to
the Anglo-Italian firm late last month as part of the process
to cancel the contract for 12 VVIP choppers.
The Ministry had asked
the firm why the deal not be
cancelled in view of the corruption charges against it.
The firm had replied to
the letter denying any wrongdoing
in the deal but Defence Minister A K Antony rejected the
response of the firm.
The Defence Minister
has already ordered a CBI probe into
the allegations after the arrest of CEO of Finmeccanica
Giuseppe Orsi and AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini by
Italian investigators in connection with the case.
No comments:
Post a Comment