Government fights for AgustaWestland’s India deal
Official in regular meetings with counterparts in India to resolve issue over helicopter contract
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The Indian government terminated a deal to buy 12 AW101 transport helicopters, amid claims that officials were bribed
9:30PM GMT 01 Feb 2014
British government officials have waded into a dispute between Anglo-Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland and Indian authorities in an effort to salvage a £465m contract.
Last month the aerospace company warned it was preparing a “mitigation plan” that would involve cutting some of its 3,300 workers in the UK. It followed the Indian government’s decision to terminate a deal to buy 12 AW101 transport helicopters, amid claims that officials were bribed to win the contract.
However, a Government spokesman has confirmed to The Telegraph that officials have held regular meetings with their counterparts in India in an effort to resolve the matter, with the latest discussions taking place as recently as last week.
Up to this point, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the Government have said they would not intervene in the dispute because it was thought to be “a matter for the company and the Indian government”.
“We have been keeping the Government very much informed,” said Graham Cole, chairman of AgustaWestland. “The Government have been understanding and supportive wherever they can.”
In a recent positive development for AgustaWestland, authorities in India have appointed an arbitrator to enter into talks.
The company, based in Yeovil, Somerset, hopes to have the contract reinstated, or to be able to recover funds that it claims are owed for three helicopters that have already been delivered to India and a further three aircraft that have been built.
Daniele Romiti, the Italian head of company, has said he “hoped” the process would start quite soon.
The helicopters were intended to transport India’s high-ranking politicians before the contract was frozen last February.
“We have asked the Indian government to have these legal disputes in an international arena so we can have clarity about the situation,” Mr Romiti has said.
David Cameron has previously defended AgustaWestland to his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, but has drawn back from directly intervening.
In a trade visit to India last February, shortly after the bribery allegations surfaced, Mr Cameron said the row would not stop him from lobbying for new contracts on the company’s behalf. He has also insisted the problem is an Italian one with no direct British involvement in the alleged wrongdoing.
India’s ministry of defence had threatened to scrap the deal since it froze the contract last year, following claims AgustaWestland paid bribes to senior defence officials, including relatives of India’s former air chief, Shashindra Pal Tyagi. AgustaWestland and Mr Tyagi have denied any wrongdoing.
The original bribery allegations emerged from an inquiry in Italy that led to an arrest warrant for Giuseppe Orsi, the chief executive of AgustaWestland’s parent company, Finmeccanica.
Investigators claim he paid €30m (£25.4m) to a British man, Christian Michel, to act as a middleman between the company and members of the Tyagi family. The Indian government has not specified the nature of the suspected bribery beyond these original allegations.
Daily Pioneer, Feb. 2, 2014 Front Page