3 AgustaWestland choppers were delivered to India and accepted by the Air Force in November 2012.
Highlights
- The down payment made by India towards the deal hasn't been returned
- The 3 choppers had been accepted by the Air Force in November 2012
- The AgustaWestland deal was signed in 2010 by Congress government
As the political battle in Parliament over the Rs 3600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal continues, details are now emerging on how, contrary to earlier reports, the entire down payment made by India towards the chopper deal has not been returned despite the government invoking the integrity clause in the deal after the role of middlemen came to light.
Sources have told NDTV, "AgustaWestland hasn't returned approximately 106 million Euros for three choppers."
These three choppers had been delivered to India and accepted by the Air Force in November 2012, nine months after the first arrests were being made in Italy in connection with corruption in AgustaWestland.
By the time the Indian government entered arbitration proceedings with AgustaWestland to recover funds which had already been paid, these choppers had flown 556 hours with the Indian Air Force which was in the process of inducting them into service.
These new details, now available with NDTV, back the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which, in 2013, had pointed out several procedural lapses in the acquisition of the helicopters.
The most damaging parts of the report pertain to how the government of India was actually willing to pay AgustaWestland more than the company had demanded for the sale of the helicopters.
According to the CAG's report, which was tabled in Parliament in August 2013, "The benchmarked cost worked out by the Contract Negotiation Committee was Rs 4877.5 crore as against the estimated cost of Rs 793 crore approved by the Ministry in January 2006. This was more than six times the estimated cost. Further, the offered cost of the vendor was Rs 3966 crore. This was much below the benchmarked cost of Rs 4877.5 crore. Thus, the benchmarked cost was higher by 22.80 per cent."
The AgustaWestland deal was signed in 2010 by the Congress-led government of Dr Manmohan Singh. It was cancelled in 2014, after Italy said it was confident that executives had paid kickbacks worth nearly 30 million euros or Rs 226 crore.
Representatives of AgustaWestland and their parent company Finmeccanica in India were not available to take questions from NDTV.