NEW DELHI: The defence ministry is keeping all its options open after AgustaWestland on Friday once again claimed, as was expected, that it had not paid bribes to bag the Rs 3,546-crore contract for 12 VVIP helicopters.
"We will seek further clarifications from the company in a detailed and pointed questionnaire. But our next step will be based on the reports of our joint secretary, who was sent to Italy last Monday to gather evidence, as well as the CBI,'' said a senior MoD official on Friday.
The MoD believes it will also require ``authenticated'' Italian court documents to build a strong case to go ahead with the cancellation of the contract inked with AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica, in February 2010. ``Our documentation has to be robust if it leads to arbitration,'' he said.
Despite having inducted only three of the 12 AW-101 helicopters till now, with around 45% of the total contract value already paid, MoD had last week frozen all further payments to AgustaWestland. The company on February 15 was given a week to explain why its contract should not be cancelled and penal action initiated against it.
Replying to the show-cause notice issued by MoD's director-general of acquisitions Satish Balram Agnihotri, AgustaWestland on Friday denied having hired any middle-men or paying them 51 million euros to swing the 556 million euros deal, holding that its conduct has been fully compliant with the rules which regulate the contract signed with India.
The company has said the contract "was awarded to it following a comprehensive technical and flight evaluation of competing types performed by the IAF in accordance" with the Indian Defence Procurement Procedure. But in the preliminary 64-page report filed in the tribunal of Busto Arsiziocity, after arresting top executives of Finmeccanica and AgustaWestland, Italian investigators have held the 51 million euros bribe money was routed through alleged middle-men Guido Haschke, CarloGerosa and Christian Michel to India.
The report alleged the middlemen used the three Tyagi brothers - (Sanjeev) Julie Tyagi, Dosca Tyagi and Sandeep Tyagi - to reach Air Chief Marshal (retd) Shashi P Tyagi, a charge which the former IAF chief has strongly denied. As earlier reported, MoD will now decide its further course of action in the bribery scandal surrounding the VVIP helicopter contract after examining the ``evidence'' gathered by its joint secretary (air acquisitions) Arun Kumar Bal and the CBI's preliminary report. If the contract is cancelled, the MoD will also have to take a decision whether only AgustaWestland should be blacklisted or the entire Finmeccanica group.
The conglomerate, which is also into the power, energy and other sectors, is in the contention for Indian military contracts worth over $6 billion. Both the contract and integrity pact inked with AgustaWestland contain specific provisions by which ``strict action including the cancellation of contract, recovery of payment, blacklisting and penal action'' can be undertaken against the company.
AgustaWestland says it had not paid bribe to bag helicopter deal
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AgustaWestland says it had not paid bribe to bag helicopter deal
