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1 Overview
India signed a contract to purchase 12 AgustaWestland
AW101 helicopters in February 2010 for the CommuniIndia signed a contract in February 2010 for 12 AgustaWestland cation Squadron of Indian Air Force, to carry the presAW101 VVIP helicopters
ident, PM and other VVIPs. Controversy over the contract came to light on 12 February 2013, with the arrest of
Giuseppe Orsi, the CEO of Finmeccanica, AgustaWestIn early 2013, an Indian national parliamentary investi- lands parent company by Italian authorities;[11] the folgation began into allegations of bribery and corruption lowing day Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony ordered
involving several senior ocials and helicopter manufac- a probe into the contract.[12]
turer AgustaWestland surrounding the purchase of a new
eet of helicopters. The scandal has been referred to as
the Chopper scam, or Choppergate by elements of the
2 Investigation
media and popular press.[1]
Several Indian politicians and military ocials have been
accused of accepting bribes from AgustaWestland in order to win the 36 billion (US$530 million) Indian contract for the supply of 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters; these helicopters are intended to perform VVIP
duties for the President of India and other important state
ocials.[2] Ahmed Patel political secretary to Congress
President Sonia Gandhi is alleged by Italian prosecutors
to have received kickbacks from the deal.[3] A note presented in the Italian court, sent by middleman Christian
Michel asks Peter Hulett, an AugustaWestland employee
to target key advisors to Sonia Gandhi and lists their
names as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ahmed Patel, Pranab Mukherjee, M. Veerappa Moily, Oscar Fernandez, M. K. Narayanan and Vinay Singh. The note
also contains the bribes to be paid out divided as, AF
6 Million, BUR 8.4 Million, Pol 6 Million and
AP 3 Million.[4][5][6]
2
vestigators part of the bribes from AgustaWestland was
sent to Abhisheks companies Atlas Defence Systems[22]
accounts in Mauritius, to Bermuda accounts of Atlas
Group Ltd and the other part was diverted to his wifes
front company in New York Ganton Limited.[23][24]
These funds are suspected to have been sent to Indian
politicians who were beneciaries in this scandal. BJP
leader Subramanian Swamy had rst identied the role
of Abhishek Verma[25] and his wife Anca Neacsu[26] in
2013 in several of his blogs and press-releases.[27][28] At
present, Abhishek and his wife Anca are incarcerated at
Tihar Jail, New Delhi.
In September 2015, a special CBI court issued an open
non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Christian Michel
based on a CBI report that he was needed to be questioned
in the case to know how much amount he had received
as commission in the deal. The CBI said that Based
on this arrest warrant, Interpol India would be requested
to issue a Red Corner Notice against Christian Michel
James and execute the said warrant,.[29] In an interview
to a newspaper, he denied any wrongdoing by stating that
he had never met any Gandhi in his life.[30]
3
Italian court.[45] However, the appellate court, Milan re- [11] Emilio Parodi and Stephen Jewkes (12 February 2013).
Finmeccanica head arrested over India bribe allegations.
versed the lower courts judgement and upheld the claims
Reuters.
of the Indian government.[46] Accordingly, in June 2014,
Indian government encashed 1818 crore taking the to- [12] VVIP chopper deal scam: Italy arrests Finmeccanica
tal amount recovered so far to 2068 crore.[8] With this,
CEO, India orders CBI probe. ZEE News. 13 FebruIndia has recovered the entire amount of around 1620
ary 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
crore(45% of total contract value 3600 crore) it had
[13] Chopper Deal: BJP Attacks UPA, Says Its 'Raining
paid to AgustaWestland.[9]
Scams". 15 February 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
References
[6] FP Sta (2 February 2014). "'Target' Sonia, her key advisers: Middleman told AgustaWestland. Firstpost.
[29] Open NBW Issued Against Accused UK National. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
[30] VVIP chopper scam: Never met Sonia Gandhi in my life,
says accused middleman. ABP Live. ABP News Bureau.
27 April 2016.
[31] First property attachment in AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal scam. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
[32] ed-attaches-assets-of-tyagi-family.
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