New Delhi: In the latest development in the tainted chopper deal, AgustaWestland on Friday replied to the showcause notice of the Indian government, denying any wrongdoing on its part. The company maintained that no rules were broken in connection with the VVIP chopper deal with India.
On February 15, the Ministry of Defence had initiated the process of scrapping the deal with AgustaWestland for 12 VVIP helicopters, issuing a notice to the company asking why the deal should not be cancelled.
The government had asked the company to reply to the notice within seven days, and had asked it to explain the bribery charges in the case. "The Defence Ministry issued a formal show cause notice to AgustaWestland seeking cancellation of the contract and taking other actions as per terms of the contract," Defence Ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar had said.
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team was expected to return from Italy with not much success as the Italian officials refused to share their probe report in the tainted chopper deal.
The top management of Finmeccanica, however, full cooperation in the investigation. The team had gone to Italy a week ago to request for assistance in probing the alleged role of Indians in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal. The Italian court of Busto Arsizio is hearing the case in which Italian investigators have arrested Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi and AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini for allegedly paying kickbacks to secure the Rs 3,600 crore deal for supplying 12 AW-101 choppers to India.
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