2013 Indian helicopter bribery scandal 1

2013 Indian helicopter bribery scandal

India signed a contract in February 2010 for 12AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters, depicted

here.

In early 2013, an Indian parliamentary investigation began intoallegations of bribery and corruption involving several senior officialsand helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland surrounding the purchaseof a new fleet of helicopters. The scandal has been referred to as theChopper scam, or Choppergate by elements of the media and popularpress.

Several Indian politicians and military officials have been accused ofaccepting bribes from AgustaWestland in order to win the 36 billion(US$590million) Indian contract for the supply of 12 AgustaWestlandAW101 helicopters; these helicopters are intended to perform VVIPduties for the President of India and other important state officials.Ahmed Patel political secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi isalleged by Italian prosecutors to have received kickbacks from the deal.[1] A note dating back to March 15, 2008presented in the Italian court also indicates that Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi is the driving force behindthe VIP chopper purchase. And it further asks middleman Peter Hulett to target key advisors to Sonia Gandhi andlists the names of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ahmed Patel, Pranab Mukherjee, M. Veerappa Moily, OscarFernandez, M. K. Narayanan, Vinay Singh. The note also contains the bribes to be paid out divided as, "AF" 6Million, "BUR" 8.4 Million, "Pol" 6 Million and "AP" 3 Million.[2][3][4]

On 25 March 2013, India's Defence Minister A.K. Antony confirmed corruption allegations by stating : "Yes,corruption has taken place in the helicopter deal and bribes have been taken. The CBI is pursuing the case veryvigorously".

OverviewIndia signed a contract to purchase 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters in February 2010 for the CommunicationSquadron of Indian Air Force, to carry the president, PM and other VVIPs. Controversy over the contract came tolight on 12 February 2013, with the arrest of Giuseppe Orsi, the CEO of Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland's parentcompany by Italian authorities; the following day Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony ordered a probe into thecontract.

CBI investigationAfter a huge controversy and allegations of corruption, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, on 12 February, ordered aninvestigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

First Information Report (FIR)On 25 February 2013, CBI registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) against 11 persons, including the former Indian AirForce Chief, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, and his cousins, besides four companies. After carrying out thepreliminary enquiry, the CBI found sufficient evidence and registered an FIR on 13 March. The FIR named 13persons including: former Indian Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, his three brothers: Juli, Docsa andSandeep, brother of former Union minister Santosh Bagrodia, Satish Bagrodia, Pratap Aggarwal (Chairman andManaging Director of IDS Infotech). The FIR also named four companies - Italy-based Finmeccanica, UK-basedAgustaWestland and Chandigarh-based IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix.

2013 Indian helicopter bribery scandal 2

Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigationOn 27 February 2013, UPA-II Government introduced a motion in Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Parliamentof India) for an investigation led by a 30-member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). The motion was passedafter a walkout by most of the opposition parties like BJP, JD(U), Trinamool Congress, CPI, TDP and AGP. Duringthe debate, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said the JPC was an "exercise in futility" and "diversionary tactic".He argued that the case involved various legal aspects such as extradition of accused foreigners and custodialinterrogation and the JPC can have "none of these powers", leaving it ineffective. Many opposition membersdemanded Supreme Court-monitored investigation (on the similar lines of 2G spectrum scam). Demands were alsomade to establish money trail and issue Letter Rogatory (LR).The UPA government initially denied all allegations and claimed it has "nothing to hide" and that "our track record isnot cover up".TDP MPs Nama Nageswara Rao, Devender Goud and others said they had strong evidence to state that the lateChief Minister Dr.YS Rajasekhara Reddy son-in-law brother, Anil Kumar was involved in the Agusta helicopterscam and they would submit it to the CBI.On 2 September 2009, a helicopter carrying Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy went missing in the Nallamala forest area.The next morning media reported that the helicopter wreckage had been found on top of Rudrakonda Hill, 40nautical miles (74km) from Kurnool. This was later confirmed by the Prime Minister's office. The five peopleaboard were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.The Committee probe into the YSR accident was critical of the A.P. Aviation Corporation Ltd (APACL) to allow theChief Minister to travel by an older helicopter, airworthiness of which was doubtful instead of pressing into serviceits new acquisition, the Agusta Westland (AW 139) chopper. The APACL, according to the committee probe,handed over maintenance to O&M and reduced its strength of personnel. But for reasons best known, theCorporation continued to hire M/s OSS Management Services which itself did not possess adequate manpower orprofessionalism. The Committee said the Rs. 61 crore Agusta Westlands procurement, contract administration andO&M lacked professionalism and recommended an independent audit into it. The circumstances leading to theextension of service of then APACL Chief Operating Officer Capt. Jagan Manthena and his role in these aspects alsoneeded a thorough examination.Captain Jagan Manthena was the member (technical) of the high-level committee which finalised the tenders for thepurchase of the Agusta AW139 helicopter. Capt.Jagan Manthena now works as a pilot at Heligo Charters. HeligoCharters are related to Sharp Ocean Investments and Oss Air Management,[5] and also a member of the JV GokalGroup.A complaint has been filed seeking an investigation into the sale of 21 civil helicopters worth over Rs 7,000 crore(US$1.6 billion) by AgustaWestland between 2005-2013 in India. As per the complaint Agusta Westland has beenselling civil helicopters in India through its agent Sharp Ocean Investments Limited, which is promoted by twinbrothers Nayan Jagjivan and Nakul Jagjivan. Tax authorities in India have been asked to probe the possibility of taxevasion by Sharp Ocean on the commission received for the sale of helicopters and foreign exchange deprivation tothe country by off-shoring payments for the sale of helicopters in India.Separately, the Comptroller and Auditor General, in its latest report, has indicted the Chhattisgarh government foroverpaying Rs.65 lakh (US$120,000) for the purchase of a VVIP chopper -an Agusta A-109 Power helicopter fromSharp Ocean Investment Ltd and its India representative, OSS Air Management. Both companies are promoted bytwin brothers Nayan Jagjivan and Nakul Jagjivan.

2013 Indian helicopter bribery scandal 3

Cancellation of the contract by the Indian GovernmentIndia cancelled the 3,600 crore deal with AgustaWestland deal in Jan,2014.The decision to annul the 2010 deal,being probed by CBI for irregularities, came after a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and DefenceMinister AK Antony in New Delhi .The government cancelled the contract "on grounds of breach of the Pre-contractIntegrity Pact and the agreement by AWIL (AgustaWestland International Ltd)" .The contract was frozen inFebruary,2013 after allegations surfaced that Rs 360 crore was paid as bribe.

Role of Union Law Ministry and Indian President in CBI probeThe CBI approached Union Law Ministry to record statements of M. K. Narayanan and M V Wanchoo in Jan,2014.M K Narayanan and Bharat Vir Wanchoo were West Bengal and Goa Governers respectively at the time of CBI'srequest. The statements of M K Narayanan and M V Wanchoo were considered vital as they were national securityadviser and special protection chief at the time of signing of contract with AgustaWestland. Their views were alsoconsidered before Indian Government signed the contract with AgustaWestland. However Kapil Sibal 's Union Lawministry in January,2014 stonewalled CBI probe by rejecting CBI's request to examine them under the usual excuseof 'immunity'. The CBI therefore approached President Pranab Mukherjee to seek permission to examine ex-NSAand ex-SPG. The ball is in President's court now.

Recovery of Bank GuaranteeAfter the cancellation of the contract, India encashed the amount of 2.4 billion Indian rupees ($39 million) made bythe firm as bank guarantee in the Indian banks earlier this year. India had requested the Italian government to retrievethe bank guarantee amount made by the firm in Italian banks which was more than 275 million. On 17th March2014, request made by India was rejected by the Italian court. But India has decided to appeal against the Italiancourts order.

References[1] http:/ / indianexpress. com/ article/ india/ india-others/ does-ap-mean-ahmed-patel-asks-prosecutor-in-italy-court-middleman-says-dont-know/[2] http:/ / indiatoday. intoday. in/ story/ agustawestland-vvip-chopper-scam-note-sonia-gandhi-manmohan-singh/ 1/ 341261. html[3] http:/ / ibnlive. in. com/ news/ agustawestland-scam-has-upa-subverted-india-into-a-kleptocracy-asks-jaitley/ 449527-37-64. html[4] http:/ / www. firstpost. com/ india/ target-sonia-her-key-advisers-middleman-told-agustawestland-1370205. html[5] Probe sought into the other Agusta deal (http:/ / www. realpolitik. in/ index. php?option=com_content& view=article&

id=285:probe-sought-into-the-other-agusta-deal& catid=104:cover-story& Itemid=1)

External links Coverage of Chopper Scam at FirstPost (http:/ / www. firstpost. com/ tag/ vvip-chopper-scam) Coverage of Chopper Scam at India Today (http:/ / indiatoday. intoday. in/ advanced_search.

jsp?searchword=VVIP Chopper scam& searchtype=text& search_type=article) Special coverage of the Finmeccanica chopper scam by The Times of India (http:/ / timesofindia. indiatimes. com/

VVIP-chopper-scam/ specialcoverage/ 18515857. cms)

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Article Sources and Contributors2013 Indian helicopter bribery scandal Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=602249646 Contributors: AgniKalpa, Akella, Bgwhite, Derek Andrews, Derek R Bullamore,Ekabhishek, Fnlayson, Kyteto, Msec109, Ohconfucius, Sayowais, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Shyamsunder, Stausifr, Tikuko, Trivediprateek15, 9 anonymous edits

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2013 Indian helicopter bribery scandalOverviewCBI investigation First Information Report (FIR)

Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation Cancellation of the contract by the Indian Government Role of Union Law Ministry and Indian President in CBI probeRecovery of Bank GuaranteeReferencesExternal links

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