Ahmed Patel said in Rajya Sabha he will quit public life if allegations against him in AgustaWestland chopper scam are proved.
Highlights
- Italian judge tells NDTV that note mentioning 'AP' is authentic
- 'AP' listed as potential bribe recipient in Agusta middleman's note
- Congress leader Ahmed Patel says initials, in no way, indict him
Drilling a large hole into what the Congress has offered in its defense in the
AgustaWestland helicopter scam, a judge in Italy has told NDTV that a note from a middleman listing "AP" as the intended recipient of a bribe is authentic. The government has alleged that "AP" refers to
Ahmed Patel, the chief advisor to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Mr Patel and his party had challenged the veracity of the document, and alleged in Parliament today that the Italian verdict speaks of no conclusive findings on which Indian politicians accepted kickbacks.
Judge Marco Maria Maiga told NDTV today that while his trial focused on the Italian bribe-givers for a helicopter deal with Delhi, "My judgment does not give a clean chit to Indian politicians. It is upto India to now follow up on investigating its politicians."
Late last month, he convicted top executives of Agusta, an Anglo-Italian defense manufacturer, of bribing Indians in exchange for a 12-helicopter deal worth 3,600 crores. The note he refers to was written by Guido Haschke, one of three middlemen who India has said it wants to question about the scam.
Mr Haschke struck a plea bargain with Italian prosecutors; his tapped phone conversations and documents formed a large part of their case.
The judge told NDTV that when asked about the "AP" reference, Mr Haschke was vague, stating that he couldn't remember who it denoted. The same note lists categories like "FAM" and "POL". The former allegedly refers to the family of former
Air Chief SP Tyagi, who was interrogated by the CBI this week about accepting kickbacks. He has denied the accusations, but the judge in Italy told NDTV that the evidence against the former chief of the air force is substantial.
The notes reviewed in the Italian court refer to top Congress leaders including Mrs Gandhi who is underscored as "the driving force" of India's decision to acquire new helicopters when the Congress was in power. The BJP says the Italian verdict offers incontestable proof that the scam was incubated by the Congress to benefit its top rung. The Congress argued in parliament today that the documents offer no hint that its leaders were either approached or accepted bribes.