AgustaWestland, which is surrounded by controversies over the VVIP chopper deal, is appointing Jackie Callicut -- a former British government employee -- as its India head. Callicut has earlier served in India in her capacity as a British government employee. She has also dealt with defence ministry operations in her country, officials said on Monday.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday slapped a money laundering case against former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi and 20 others in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal to probe alleged kickbacks of Rs.360 crore.
Moving ahead towards scrapping the Rs 3,600 crore controversial chopper deal, Defence Minister AK Antony on Wednesday said AgustaWestland has "violated the contract" for supplying 12 VVIP choppers for the air force.
'The web of transactions is so complex that it requires expertise to understand the strategies involved in each fraud.'
The Anglo-Italian firm said that the defence ministry had no right to unilaterally suspend the contract for the 12 VVIP choppers. The firm added that it has since April been requesting the ministry to hold discussions on the issue, but there has been no response from the government
The deal was "put on hold" only in 2013 after corruption was "proved", he said adding the Congress chief should answer who was behind the delay.
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.
Staring at the prospect of being blacklisted in the wake of the chopper scam, Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland has approached the Finance Ministry for release of nearly Rs 2,400 crore which has been put on hold by the defence ministry pending inquiry into the case.
Dadra and Nagar Haveli, now a Union Territory, were occupied by the Portuguese in 1783 and 1785, respectively. They continued to be ruled by the Portuguese till an armed revolution liberated them, and the Tricolour was unfurled at Silvassa on 2 August 1954.
Swamy had been instructed by the deputy speaker of the Rajya Sabha that if he failed to do so, his remarks during the Agusta debate would be struck off.
"I am always being targeted, happy to be targeted," he told reporters while entering Parliament House.
Anjali quickly decided not to pursue her career in medicine. If she had worked in a government hospital, she would have had to do her fair share of nights and weekends in hospital, which would have been tough when Sachin was back in Bombay between tours. Had she worked in private practice as Dr Anjali Tendulkar, she reckoned she would be consulted for her name rather than her expertise. Anjali is an all-or nothing person and she couldn't have just dabbled in doctoring. Moreover, she wanted to devote herself to keeping her husband in the right frame of mind to play his best cricket. A fascinating excerpt from Annabel Mehta and Georgina Brown's book, My Passage to India.
The AgustaWestland issue was fiercely debated in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday with members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress blaming each other.
They realised that the Portuguese were better prepared to defend Daman than Dadra and Nagar Haveli. If reinforcements from Daman were to reach Silvassa, there was no chance of defeating the Portuguese. They decided that cutting Daman's communication lines would have to be their top priority before attacking Silvassa. A fascinating excerpt from Neelesh Kulkarni's new book, Uprising-The Liberation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
The Congress on Monday alleged that a Chinese national played a 'dubious role' in the Adani Group's activities and asked the government if it was not concerned that the conglomerate may be involving that person in important defence contracts.
PAC Chairman K V Thomas, however, remained non-committal over these demands.
Bharti accused the media of distorting her statement, attributing it to the BJP's agenda.
Shashi Tharoor's remark was a dilution of the points he made in the Weekly cover story, where he denounced Sunny's captaincy in more vivid terms.
I will quit Rajya Sabha as well as public life if any allegation against me is proved in AgustaWestland controversy, said Congress leader Ahmed Patel.
Lakshmipathy Balaji turned out to be the cynosure of all eyes during the Indian cricket team's tour of Pakistan in 2004.
In a post on X, the prime minister also urged the people to make contributions to the Armed Forces Flag Day fund.
The bench said what is worrying the court is the complexity of trial as there are over 250 witnesses in the case and the co-accused government officials have been granted bail for want of sanction for prosecution.
Book reveals how Akshay Kumar terminated his own contract to save IPL team from incurring loss
When the IAF veterans' bail petition came up for hearing, in an unprecedented move, senior serving and retired Air Marshals and Air Vice Marshals rallied behind the accused officers and appeared before the court to give sureties for each, something that has never happened ever before.
Despite Nirav Modi win, in the last five years, India managed to bring only about 20 fugitive offenders.
ED sought his custody for seven days, claiming it had knowledge of unidentified assets which value more than Rs 500 crore and his custodial interrogation was required.
A Delhi Court on Friday dismissed the bail pleas of alleged middleman Christian Michel in connection with alleged AgustaWestland scam related corruption case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and the money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate.
There is little appetite among combat aircraft engine makers to share the IP that results from a co-creation project. But Rolls-Royce is willing to walk the Aatmanirbhar talk.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested Delhi lawyer Gautam Khaitan in the case of alleged commission paid by Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer to a UK-based NRI middleman to swing a three-aircraft deal with DRDO worth $210 million in its favour in 2008, officials said on Thursday.
Shah said the 'friendship' between Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the deal, and Congress' top leadership is 'time tested and deep'.
Government sources told ANI on Sunday that the ban has been lifted in dealings with the company with conditions. As per the decision, the investigation against the company by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate would continue.
Michel may prove to be the missing link in the money trail in the alleged multi-crore scam being probed by the CBI.
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.
The ED named former Air Force Chief S P Tyagi, his two cousins, lawyer Gautam Khaitan, two Italian middlemen and Finmeccanica in its chargesheet.
The court asked them to furnish a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh with one surety of the like amount.
Michel was extradited in an operation under the guidance of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the Central Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday.
A bail plea was also moved on his behalf. The court did not give any specific date for hearing the bail plea.
Others named in the chargesheet include alleged European middlemen in the deal, Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke.
Surjewala statement comes after some media reports claimed that investigators questioning the suspected middleman in the 'chopper kickbacks' case were trying to extract a false confession from him that he personally knew Gandhi at the time the AgustaWestland chopper deal was finalised.
The ED also told the special court that Christian Michel had spoken about 'the son of the Italian lady' and how he is going to become the 'next prime minister of the country'.
