Govt gets details of contracts

The information has come after the Defence Ministry sent a strongly worded notice to the manufacturer to supply all information on the alleged middlemen earlier this month,days after The Indian Express carried a detailed report on three key contracts through which bribes were allegedly paid.

The contracts,copies of which are available with this newspaper,are accompanied with bank statements that show that millions of Euros were paid to both the alleged middlemen. On its part,AgustaWestland has consistently denied that it hired middlemen and has contended that all its linkages to the alleged middlemen do not defy Indian laws or the strict integrity pact.

Sources said AgustaWestland has now shared the details of its two contracts with Michel through which,Italian investigators believe,bribes worth 30 million euros were paid. One of the contracts with Michel,under which Euro 6 million of the alleged kickbacks were paid,focused mainly on media coverage of the VVIP chopper deal and mandated him to manage the hostile press. Another was for the buyback of WG30 helicopters from Pawan Hans.

Besides,the chopper firm also had an agreement with Mohali-based software firm IDS Infotech,connected to Haschke,for a compensation of five per cent of the value of the chopper deal in the form of engineering consulting contracts.

While AgustaWestland claims that it has not done anything against the Indian law during the course of bagging and executing the

Rs 3546 crore deal,Italian investigators have referred to the above contracts to allege that kickbacks worth at least 10 per cent of the value were generated.

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