AgustaWestland denies wrong doing in chopper deal

New Delhi: Facing threat of cancellation of its deal, AgustaWestland on Wednesday told the Defence Ministry it was not involved in any wrong doing in securing the Rs 3,600 crore contract for supplying 12 VVIP choppers to the IAF.

After meeting with Defence Ministry officials, the company issued a statement saying it has nominated former Supreme Court Judge B. N. Srikrishna for arbitration with the Defence Ministry.

The officials of AgustaWestland including its top executives here denied any wrong doing on the part of the firm in the chopper deal, defence officials said.

The Defence Ministry was represented by Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager (Air) Upamanyu Chatterjee along with other officials at the meeting, they said.

Earlier in the day, the firm had said in a statement that, "AgustaWestland denies all allegations of violation of the pre-contract integrity pact and the contract. We will deliver the formal written response to the exceptions raised by the Indian Defence Ministry."

The Ministry's stand on the issue comes after Defence Minister A. K. Antony's assertion that the firm had violated contractual obligations, for which the government had initiated action against it.

On the arbitration process initiated by the firm, Defence Ministry has taken a stand that it does not apply to the pre-contract integrity pact, which is signed by the Ministry with its vendors.

There are allegations that over Rs 300 crore in kickbacks were paid to Indian agents for securing the deal in AgustaWestland's favour.
The Anglo-Italian firm has already been issued the final show cause notice for cancellation of the deal and it has time till November 26 to reply to the same.

The show cause notice was issued by Defence Ministry on October 21 in which it had given 21 days, that is till November 11, to the firm to submit its response.

But, AgustaWestland had sought a meeting with the Ministry and obtained 15 days' more time to reply to the notice.

In the notice, the Ministry had asked AgustaWestland to explain why "all or any action as prescribed, including cancellation of the contract, should not be taken against them for violating the terms of the pre-integrity pact and the contract for procurement of 12 VVIP choppers".