This is the message Finmeccanica chief Giuseppe Orsi sent along with a bottle of champagne to his rivals American Sikorsky, a day ahead of the award of the Rs 3,600 crore contract in February 2010, according to a report by the Italian investigators.
Seeking to contain damage arising out of the alleged kickbacks in the VVIP chopper deal, government asked the Italian firm Finmeccanica to state whether any money was illegally paid to any Indian entity or individual coupled with a warning of blacklisting it.
At a time when his party is targeting the government on the VVIP chopper deal, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh on Thursday came to the rescue of beleagured former Air Force Chief S P Tyagi while admitting that the required parameters in the tender were changed during the NDA rule.
It is too premature to point a finger at former Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi. India's mind-boggling acquisition procedure is so complex that no foreign agency can handle the deal without involving a middleman, Air Marshal (retired) B K Pandey tells rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa
The BJP brought Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the line of fire on the alleged kickbacks in the VVIP chopper purchase and raked up the Italian origin of the company as political parties demanded scrapping of the Rs 3,600 crore deal.
The agency on Wednesday received a complaint from the Defence Ministry seeking a probe in the alleged kickback given in the procurement of 12 helicopters produced by Finmeccanica's subsidiary AgustaWestland, CBI sources said in New Delhi.
Former Indian Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi, on Wednesday refuted allegations that he was paid bribes to swing a Rs 3,600 crore deal for procuring 12 choppers from Italian firm Finmeccanica to ferry VVIPS. "I am innocent. These allegations are totally baseless and I am denying them categorically. The deal was signed in 2010 whereas I retired in 2007 itself," he said.
Amid the ongoing probe into the VVIP chopper deal controversy in which a former Indian Air Force chief is facing action by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne on Monday said the Indian Air Force has an unblemished record so far and it is taking measures to ensure there are no deviations.
Dengue cases in the national capital crossed the 1,000-mark with 38 people testing positive for the mosquito-borne disease on Thursday, taking the total number of cases this season to 1,057.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi meeting their party's stalwart of many decades -- President Pranab Mukherjee -- is not unusual, but the timing of their visits is, notes Sheela Bhatt
The CBI has issued look-out notices for former IAF Chief SP Tyagi, his three cousins and five other Indians who have been named in its FIR in the alleged kickbacks received by them in Rs 3600 crore VVIP chopper deal.
The Indian Air Force is planning to procure more Embraer business jets for its Delhi-based communication Squadron for ferrying VIPs.
AgustaWestland, which is facing allegations of paying kickbacks to secure VVIP choppers deal, on Friday replied to the Indian show cause notice for cancelling the contract saying it has not indulged in any wrong practice.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday said that he has not expressed any reservation over the defence ministry's move to scrap the Rs 3,546 crore VVIP chopper deal, and added that his comment was a sensible one.
Holding that investigation into the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP helicopter deal was on at "many levels", India on Monday said letters rogatory is the "best and strongest method" available to it for seeking details from Italian courts on the case.
The Bharatiya Janata Party today asked Congress to come clean on reports alleging that close associates of a former Union minister and a Congress vice president were beneficiaries of the bribes paid in the VVIP chopper deal.
Sanjeev Tyagi, a cousin of former Air Chief S P Tyagi, on Saturday rubbished charges of having received kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal, saying it was an "absolute lie" even as he admitted having met one of the middlemen 17 years back on a power sector deal.
A joint team of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the defence ministry is likely to leave for Italy on Sunday to probe the alleged kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP helicopter deal. CBI sources said the team will meet Italian prosecutors to ascertain the details of the case.
Amid the storm over alleged kickbacks in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Friday said an audit of the controversial deal is under progress and a report would be released soon.
An alleged middleman in the VVIP helicopter deal has claimed that he knew the "family" of former Air Chief S P Tyagi and had met one of his cousins at a wedding in Switzerland, according to the investigations.
Facing charges of taking kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal, a cousin of former Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi on Thursday termed as baseless the allegations against him and his two brothers, and said they were open to any inquiry. In a report filed by Italian investigators on the defence deal in Italy, the three Tyagi brothers -- Julie, Docsa and Sanjeev -- are alleged to have received kickbacks of nearly Rs 72 lakh from middlemen.
Widening its probe in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal, the ED has begun a trail of "cash" which is suspected to have been paid as alleged kickbacks.
As soon as the day breaks, the silence in this VVIP segment is broken by slogans for Bharatiya Janata Party's re-election to power and leading the campaign is its chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal who is meeting locals with a tiny "induction chulha" in his hands.
Till now, Vadra, 46, the businessman husband of Priyanka Gandhi, an SPG protectee, was exempted from frisking at airports when he travelled with an SPG protectee.
The national capital on Tuesday reeled under massive power cuts, with outages in some areas lasting for over eight to nine hours, resulting in inconvenience to people in the sweltering heat.People in certain localities of West Delhi even hit the streets, protesting long power cuts.
Too much subsidised cooking gas is being consumed by country's VVIPs, according to the transparency portal launched on Friday by state-owned oil firms.
Shah said the 'friendship' between Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the deal, and Congress' top leadership is 'time tested and deep'.
Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday said he would "seriously" pursue the inquiry into allegations of corruption in the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters by India. "I have not seen the (news) report. I can assure you I will seriously pursue the inquiry," Antony told reporters outside Parliament House when asked about allegations of corruption in the helicopter purchase deal.
When cops were taking him to an undisclosed location in a jeep, he was heard shouting, Main Vikas Dubey hun, Kanpur wala.
The religious head of the Ajmer dargah on Sunday announced he will boycott the visit of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to protest the move of district authorities of not allowing him to go inside the shrine beyond the main gate when the visiting delegation arrives.
an President Dimitry Medvedev, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Brazil President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma will participate in the summit hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
After India scrapped its Rs 3,600 crore deal for supplying VVIP choppers, Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland on Friday said that the contract termination notice sent to it does not offer any firm basis for taking any action against it.
Police has asked Team Anna to provide the schedule and nature of the programme on day-to-day basis besides expected gathering on the function at Ramlila Ground from December 27, 2011 to January 5, 2012.
In a major operation, Delhi police has arrested two suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists who were allegedly planning to carry out terror strikes in the capital by targeting vital installations and VVIPs. Delhi police sources said the operation was launched to nab the two LeT men after receiving inputs from central intelligence agencies that the duo have entered the capital to carry out strikes.
Lucknow DIG of Police D K Thakur said there was no reason for villagers to be worried as the tiger had been around for many weeks and had not attacked human beings. Sharat Pradhan reports.
In India traffic comes to a virtual standstill whenever there is 'VVIP movement'. At the Rio+20 Conference there were hundreds of world leaders, but no security agency seemed to hassle the locals, notes B S Prakash.
"I answer all your questions, whatever you ask me. Why don't you question Prime Minister Modi on the Rafale deal, on Amit Shah's son. Why don't you question the prime minister who changed the entire Rafale deal to help a businessman?" he asked.
The amount allocated for 'Tour Expenses' has been fixed at Rs 259 crore.
Government is awaiting a report from its embassy and team in Italy to get a final picture on whether Defence Minister A K Antony has been listed as a witness in the VVIP chopper scam trial by a court there.
