5 Things You Must Know About #AgustaWestland Scandal
CONGRESS was in uproar today at the Rajya Sabha as their party president, Sonia Gandhi, was alleged to have been involved in the 2013’s infamous Agusta Westland chopper scam in Italy. The accusation came after the Italian Court indicated Gandhi and her close aids’ involvement in the scam. We bring you five things you should know this scam.
1. The original deal
India’s Ministry of Defence signs a deal with AgustaWestland for 12 VVIP high-altitude choppers for about Rs 3,726.96 crore. They were bought to fly VVIPs like the Prime Minister, President and others in high-altitude places like Siachen.
2. Deal put on hold as corruption charges emerge
In 2013, Bruno Spagnolini, CEO of AgustaWestland and Guiseppe Orsi, chairman of the Italian parent company Finmeccanica, were arrested on charges of bribing middlemen to acquire the deal with IAF. A CBI probe was ordered into the case
3. 3. IAF officers in the accused list
In 2014, the Italian court investigating scam named former chief of the IAF, SP Tyagi in the scam, stating that he was bribed by Finmeccanicato sign the deal with AgustaWestland.
4. Where did Sonia Gandhi get involved into this?
The three middlemen — Carlos Gerosa, Christian Michel and Guildo Haschke — mentioned ‘Mrs Gandhi’ as being the ‘driving force behind the VIP’ in an conversation being noted by the Milan Court of Appeals and her close aides Ahmed Patel and Pranab Mukherjee were also mentioned and the latter was referred to as being the ‘British High Commissioner’.
5. What is happening now?
Ever since the Italian Court mentioned Sonia Gandhi’s name in the case the BJP has started asking questions to the Congress asking them to come clean. Congress has retaliated saying why did the BJP take two years to process the case when they could have done it sooner if the allegations were true. Finmeccanica Chairman Orse has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years imprisonment and a fine of $8.5 million.
Author : Niranjan Deshpande