AgustaWestland deal: Italy court rejects India’s plea to recover bank guarantee

The Defence Ministry had terminated the Rs 3,546-crore VVIP chopper deal on the grounds that Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland had breached the integrity pact by allegedly paying kickbacks.

Days after the Defence Ministry scrapped the tainted AgustaWestland chopper deal, a court in Italy has now rejected a bid by India to recover the bank guarantees worth more than 278 million euros. According to a Reuters report, this announcement was made by Italian defence group Finmeccanica.

The Defence Ministry had terminated the Rs 3,546-crore VVIP chopper deal on the grounds that Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland had breached the integrity pact by allegedly paying kickbacks.

The formal cancellation of the deal was announced after Defence Minister A K Antony met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprised him of developments in the case.

India had frozen the deal following a series of reports in The Indian Express that exposed claims that kickbacks worth 51 million euros were generated in the deal to supply 12 state-of-the-art helicopters to the IAF to fly VVIPs.