In the thick of allegations of the Rs 3,600 crore scam in the deal of 12 helicopters to India, Italian company Finmeccanica Tuesday said it is ready to cooperate with Indian authorities to clarify the matter.
In the thick of allegations of the Rs 3,600 crore scam in the deal of 12 helicopters to India, Italian company Finmeccanica on Monday said it is ready to cooperate with authorities here to clarify the matter.
Shah said the 'friendship' between Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the deal, and Congress' top leadership is 'time tested and deep'.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday sought "clarification" from Defence Minister A K Antony as to why the "Family" mentioned in middleman Guido Haschke's statement before an Italian court in the VVIP chopper deal case is being given "another meaning".
The meeting would be attended by Parrikar, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu, besides others. Parrikar, who met the prime minister on Tuesday, is expected to address the Rajya Sabha at 2 pm during the short duration debate.
The ministry had on Friday decided to replace Chatterjee as joint secretary and acquisition manager (Air), in-charge of handling the chopper deal, which is facing cancellation in view of bribery allegations, and the multi-billion dollar 126 combat aircraft deal of the Air Force.
'We will continue to ask why Modi and his government were benefactors to this AgustaWestland company, why within 40 days they overturned the ban?'
Congress president Sonia Gandhi said she is not afraid of anything as the party has nothing to hide in the case.
Swamy gave notice in the Rajya Sabha for moving Breach of Privilege Motion against Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad over his remarks related to the AgustaWestland issue.
Stung by the alleged scam in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, the defence ministry is now busy tweaking the defence procurement policy that it hopes to unveil in mid-April this year.
Armed with fresh details on the alleged kickbacks, India has initiated steps to cancel the Rs 3,600 crore-chopper deal with Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland by issuing a show cause notice to it in this regard.
He also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on the issue.
Amidst allegations of deviation from the tendering process, the government on Wednesday put off the decision on a proposal to procure 197 light helicopters, a move that comes against the backdrop of a scam in another chopper deal involving complainant AgustaWestland of Italy.
He was asked to wait but he reportedly left after some time on the pretext of going to the washroom, officials alleged.
After India scrapped a contract for procuring VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland, American firm Textron on Friday said it is ready to offer its unique V-22 Osprey helicopter to India for ferrying its dignitaries.
"Many people who had some links with Agusta, I am not saying illegitimate links, but some links with Agusta procurement and supply, were given good positions," Parrikar told PTI in an interview.
A bail plea was also moved on his behalf. The court did not give any specific date for hearing the bail plea.
"We would like to challenge this government for a debate at any time and any place of their choosing on the 2 years of NDA-BJP Government", party spokesman Manish Tewari told media persons targetting the government over its record in governance.
The court took note of Michel's submission alleging mental torture inside the jail and directed Tihar jail authorities to produce the CCTV footage and reports by Thursday based on which he was shifted to a high-security ward.
Special judge Arvind Kumar issued notice to the agency and directed it to file a reply on Michel's plea, which had stated that he had not named anybody in connection with the deal during investigation by the ED and that even though the court has not taken cognisance of the documents, in order to make the entire case a sensation again in the media, the agency had leaked the chargesheet.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Tuesday took a dig at Congress President Sonia Gandhi, saying everyone was aware of her "love for her son, National Herald and 2G".
Justice Gaur was elevated to the high court in April 2008. He was designated as a permanent judge on April 11, 2012.
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'.
In his hard-hitting speech at a gathering of ex-servicemen, the prime minister referred to the Bofors scam, AgustaWestland chopper scam, Rafale issue and inordinate delays in procurement of critical military platforms and ammunition by previous government.
Taking a jibe at Gandhi over her remarks on Wednesday that she does not fear anybody, Shah said she is "right" and that is why such "scams" keep coming out in the open.
India has received a fresh tranche of crucial documents from Italy in connection with Rs 3,600 crore VVIP helicopter deal which is likely to help Central Bureau of Investigation in expediting the probe into the bribery scam allegedly involving the then Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi.
Pakistan has signed a deal with Italy-based aerospace giant Leonardo-Finmeccanica for purchasing an undisclosed number of helicopters for search and rescue operations.
With only one day left, the Winter session of Parliament is on the verge of a washout as it failed to transact any business again on Thursday.
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.
A Delhi court on Saturday sent former Air Force Chief S P Tyagi, arrested in Rs 450 crore Agusta Westland bribery case in procurement of 12 VVIP helicopters, to police custody for four days after the CBI said he was needed to be quizzed to unearth a "very large conspiracy having international ramifications".
After the agency's submission, all the three accused moved their bail applications, which will be heard on December 21 as the CBI sought time to reply to the applications.
The commission has also sought records related to the termination of the deal to be presented before it in an in camera proceedings for its perusal before deciding whether they can be disclosed under the RTI Act or they attract its exemption clauses.
A special court denied Christian Michel bail in the related Central Bureau of Investigation case.
The Congress on Monday sought a discussion on the latest report of the CAG, listing alleged irregularities in Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation's KG basin gas project and forced three adjournments in Rajya Sabha in the pre-noon session demanding a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He also said that Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy has not lied about the deal but it seems he has been misled.
The defence ministry on Friday scrapped a scam-tainted tender worth over Rs 6,000 crore to procure 197 light helicopters from foreign vendors and decided to allow indigenous players to manufacture these choppers for the armed forces.
The government vowed to track down the main beneficiaries of the kickbacks so that "we can do" what "we could not do in Bofors
Police, which had made extensive preparations by putting up three layers of barricades, detained senior AAP leaders Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Dilip Pandey along with party volunteers, and took them to Parliament Street police station.
The nexus between middlemen, arms agents and government officials has been broken, according to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
In a first, the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) officers reached out to several ministries in the last week of April as part of a confidence-boosting measure. The meeting brought the CAG officials and those from the ministries across the table to discuss the pain points in their relations. CAG of India Girish Chandra Murmu took this novel step because of growing tensions between those audited and the auditor.
