Link: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/02/sonia-gandhi-ahmed-patels-corruption.html
Sonia Gandhi & Ahmed Patel's corruption featured in Italian newspaper
Defence lawyers in VVIP chopper case: Witness is mistaken, Tyagi did not come to Italy, Major did
Written by Manu Pubby | New Delhi | February 7, 2014 10:03 am
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Sonia Gandhi & Ahmed Patel's corruption featured in Italian newspaper
Defence lawyers in VVIP chopper case: Witness is mistaken, Tyagi did not come to Italy, Major didWritten by Manu Pubby | New Delhi | February 7, 2014 10:03 am
SUMMARY
The defence lawyers in the VVIP chopper deal case said that the witness confused Tyagi with his successor Major.
Insisting that the meeting between Tyagi and Orsi is a figment of imagination, the defence argued that Saponaro was confused and had mistaken the facts of the case.
The defence lawyers in the VVIP chopper deal corruption scandal that is being heard in an Italian court have said that a top former official of AgustaWestland who had claimed in the court on Tuesday that then Air Chief SP Tyagi had been hosted by the company in Milan is mistaken and that he confused Tyagi with his successor FH Major who had come on an official tour to Italy in 2008.
In the ongoing court procedures in Italy, the defence team of Giuseppe Orsi – the former CEO of AgustaWestland who is on trial for facilitating kickbacks worth 51 million euros to swing the bribe – has debunked the argument of the prosecution that Tyagi – and accused in the case – had been hosted by the company while he was serving as the Air Chief in 2007.
Arguing that Orsi could not have met Tyagi in 2007 in Milan as was claimed by Agusta’s former senior vice president for international business, Giacomo Saponaro in the court on Tuesday, the defending team has said that the Indian officer (who has been named in a CBI FIR into the matter) had not been to Italy.
Insisting that the meeting between Tyagi and Orsi is a figment of imagination, the defence argued that Saponaro was confused and had mistaken the facts of the case. According to the lawyers, Tyagi has never been in Italy and contended that Saponaro was confusing the official visit of his successor, FH Major to Italy that took place in January 2008.
The matter has come a surprise to the prosecution as they had even produced a photograph of SP tyago at the court hearings and Saponaro had identified him as the man who had been hosted by Agusta in 2007.
As reported by the Indian Express, the former top official told the Italian court that Orsi took Tyagi to a fancy theatre performance and also hosted an expensive dinner for him in early 2007.
Saponaro told the court that Orsi took the then IAF chief to the Teotro alla Scala, one of the most famous opera houses in the world located in Milan. After the performance, Saponaro claimed Tyagi was taken for a fancy dinner at the restaurant of the opera house, the Biffi Scala. Saponaro had claimed the expenses for the evening were borne by the Anglo-Italian company.
Published on Feb 4, 2014
Manu Pubby explains his latest exclusive story for The Indian Express on the AgustaWestland VVIP Chopper deal. On February, 2014, The Indian Express published a report by him showing how a note that Italian prosecutors produced in court to show the vital role played by middleman Christian Michel in fixing the VVIP chopper deal, has the British 'consultant' telling top AgustaWestland officials to 'target' the closest advisers for UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for the contract.
Full story http://iexp.in/wod62358
Full story http://iexp.in/wod62358
Choppergate: Antony says, authenticity of deal notes 'not proved'
PTI [ Updated 05 Feb 2014, 18:28:01 ]
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New Delhi: Defence Minister AK Antony today said certain notes have come to light suggesting that middlemen in the VVIP chopper deal were trying to target certain Indian leaders but their authenticity is “not proved”.
He was making a suo motu statement in Rajya Sabha on the AgustaWestland chopper scam after a note received from Italy suggested that one of the middlemen Christian Michel had written to an AgustaWestland official in India to ask a ‘High Commissioner’ to target UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi and her close advisers Ahmed Patel, Pranab Mukherjee, Veerappa Moily.
“There is another unsigned document purported to be written by Mr Christian to the attention of one Mr Peter Hullet for High Commissioner to target certain Indian leaders. The authenticity of these documents is not proved. The case is presently in Italian court,” Antony said.
On the hearings in an Italian court, he said one unsigned handwritten paper has been produced which has headings “AF, BUR, POL (under which AP is recorded), FAM etc and Guido Hashcke, from whom this document has been recovered, has been cross-examined on this.”
He was making a suo motu statement in Rajya Sabha on the AgustaWestland chopper scam after a note received from Italy suggested that one of the middlemen Christian Michel had written to an AgustaWestland official in India to ask a ‘High Commissioner’ to target UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi and her close advisers Ahmed Patel, Pranab Mukherjee, Veerappa Moily.
“There is another unsigned document purported to be written by Mr Christian to the attention of one Mr Peter Hullet for High Commissioner to target certain Indian leaders. The authenticity of these documents is not proved. The case is presently in Italian court,” Antony said.
On the hearings in an Italian court, he said one unsigned handwritten paper has been produced which has headings “AF, BUR, POL (under which AP is recorded), FAM etc and Guido Hashcke, from whom this document has been recovered, has been cross-examined on this.”
Agence France-Presse February 7, 2014 6:18pm
Arms makers left frustrated as India awaits elections
Global arms makers gathered in New Delhi for India's biggest defence show face further frustrating delays as they await a new Indian government which they hope can speed up procurement.
Big French, British, Russian, US and other arms groups at Defexpo, which runs until Sunday, are competing to offer their wares to India, the largest global importer of conventional weapons.
The country, with regional rival Pakistan to the west and growing China to the north, is in the midst of a stuttering $100-billion defence modernisation programme to replace Soviet-era planes and tanks.
But hopes New Delhi might sign any big deals at the show were dashed Thursday by Defence Minister A.K. Antony, who said on the sidelines of India's Defexpo that "there is no money left" in the defence budget for this year.
"Almost all the budget has been spent. Many other projects are also in the pipeline," he said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the four-day event at which over 600 companies are exhibiting, he added that firms would have to wait until a new government takes office after elections due by May.
His left-leaning Congress party, in power since 2004, is headed for a resounding defeat according to polls, with a new coalition led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party forecast to take its place.
But the next government will also face spending constraints, with economic growth faltering and the country running a large fiscal deficit at a time when investors are pressuring emerging market currencies.
A long backlog
Among the major contracts on hold is a $12-billion deal for 126 Rafale fighter jets which has been under exclusive negotiation by France's Dassault Aviation since January 2012.
Successive deadlines to complete one of the world's biggest defence contracts -- including one for the end of this financial year in March -- have slipped by.
Under the proposed deal, New Delhi would buy outright 18 fighters manufactured in France and then make the rest under licence in India.
European missile maker MBDA is another waiting to complete the sale of up to 2,000 short-range surface-to-air missiles.
The contract was announced during a visit by French President Francois Hollande to India in February 2013 but the deal still needs final approval by the Indian government.
Head of the group in India, Loïc Piedevache, told AFP he was still hopeful of signing the contract "in the coming months".
The missiles are due to be produced by the Indian industrial group Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) but the European firm would still get a substantive share of the contract.
Another deal on the anvil is for 197 reconnaissance helicopters for which Eurocopter, now known as Airbus Helicopters, and the Russian group Kamov have been competing since 2009.
"The need is there," said Olivier Lambert, senior vice president in charge of global Airbus Helicopters sales.
The helicopters are intended to replace the Indian army's decades-old Cheetah and Chetak choppers, while new artillery procurement has long been another priority for the generals.
Bureaucratic hold-ups and corruption
Experts and military planners agree that acquiring new equipment is a priority for India.
The army "has not been able to induct artillery since the last was purchased in 1980s", says Laxman Kumar Behera, analyst at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA ).
The land army has "deficiency in basic requirements such as bullet proof jackets, night vision devices, assault rifles", Behera told AFP.
India's defence ministry has long been demanding that the armed forces wean themselves off their dependence on foreign equipment, but the local industry remains weak.
India still imports 70 percent of its military equipment despite the country's insistence that foreign manufacturers tie up with local partners and transfer technology.
"India's ambitions to be a self-reliant defence producer remains, but much soul searching needs to be done in order to make this ambition a reality," said Deba R. Mohanty, head of research firm Indicia.
Corruption cases, logjams in the decision-making chain and a lack of local research and development have also slowed the modernisation of the armed forces.
India cancelled last month a 556-million-euro ($753-million) contract with Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland to buy luxury helicopters for VIPs amid bribery allegations.
Industry insiders say that fear of being accused of corruption -- which has scuppered numerous contracts in the past -- has led many civil servants to sit on files and delay making decisions.
"Indian defence procurement process is such a complex administrative web that the process gets stuck in its own complexities," Mohanty told AFP.