An Italian court has concluded that the Anglo-Italian firm’s executives are guilty of paying kickbacks in India to be selected as the supplier of a dozen helicopters, and now the AgustaWestland chopper deal has been railing at the Congress.
On Thursday, former Aam Aadmi Party members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav blamed one the most senior leaders of the BJP of unlawful connections with Agusta.
With regards to a revelation of Panama Papers, that leaked information on offshore companies in tax havens, the duo purported that the son of Raman Singh, the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, received kickbacks from Agusta in exchange for the state government buying one of its helicopters in 2007.
The Chief Minister, however, declined accusations of any wrongdoing by his son and called the allegations as political vendetta.
According to Mr Bhushan and Mr Yadav, Chhattisgarh paid 6.1 million dollars for the Agusta helicopter, including a commission of about 1.5 million dollars for quick delivery to a Hong Kong subsidiary of Agusta.
Mr Yadav and Mr Bhushan complained that the commission was directed to the British Virgin Islands for firm whose enlisted directors include ‘Abhishank Singh’.
The Chief Minister’s son is named Abhishek – spelled differently from the name on the documents, but the postal address listed for the British Virgins Island account is reportedly that of the Chief Minister.
“His name is registered as ‘Abhishank’ Singh. That is probably a clerical mistake. But we have verified the address,” Mr Bhushan told reporters at a press conference.
In 2011, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General ( CAG) suggested that the government had made a mistake by failing to sign the Agusta contract within a set deadline, which meant Chhattisgarh paid an extra 65 lakhs for the then short-listed helicopter.
The BJP told that the CAG report underscored procedural errors, but in no way suggests the Agusta deal for Chhattisgarh was marked by corruption.
By Isha Kulkarni
Tags: Abhishek Singh Agusta Westland Chattisgarh Raman Singh
