What was The Family’s role in chopper deal?
16 Feb 2013 2:27 AM GMT
The BJP on Friday demanded that a time-bound court monitored enquiry should be initiated in the alleged kickbacks received in the VVIP chopper deal. The party questioned the role of a particular family in the case, claiming it had been paid kickback in the deal. ‘In two places, the Italian chargesheet talks about payment of 28 million Euros to ‘The Family’, the nation wants to know who ‘The Family’ is?’ said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.
The BJP also dragged Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s key aide Kanishka Singh into the VVIP chopper deal, alleging that he played a key role in Italian manufacturer Agusta Westland winning the contract. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya quoted an Italian newspaper, Lettera 43, which said that the main commission agent Christian Michel’s late father was close to the Congress party, and the other middleman, Guido Ralph Haschke, was a Director of Emaar-MGF.
‘Emaar MGF is a real estate company owned by the late Ved Prakash Gupta with the late SK Singh being one of the promoters and shareholders. Singh was father of Kanishka Singh,’ said Somaiya in his letter to the CBI asking the agency to investigate the role of Kanisha.
Attacking the government, the BJP said the real issues were who finalised and signed the contract and the beneficiaries of the alleged kickbacks. ‘The issue is not technical specification but corruption and kickbacks and the government’s failure to order timely probe and find out the Indian beneficiaries,’ said Javadekar.
The party posed questions to the government (see top box) asking it who received the kickbacks in the deal and what the connection between Switzerland-based Haschke and Indian company Emaar MGF is. The country’s principal opposition party also sought to know whether the government has issued letters rogatory in connection with deal.
The BJP also dragged Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s key aide Kanishka Singh into the VVIP chopper deal, alleging that he played a key role in Italian manufacturer Agusta Westland winning the contract. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya quoted an Italian newspaper, Lettera 43, which said that the main commission agent Christian Michel’s late father was close to the Congress party, and the other middleman, Guido Ralph Haschke, was a Director of Emaar-MGF.
‘Emaar MGF is a real estate company owned by the late Ved Prakash Gupta with the late SK Singh being one of the promoters and shareholders. Singh was father of Kanishka Singh,’ said Somaiya in his letter to the CBI asking the agency to investigate the role of Kanisha.
Attacking the government, the BJP said the real issues were who finalised and signed the contract and the beneficiaries of the alleged kickbacks. ‘The issue is not technical specification but corruption and kickbacks and the government’s failure to order timely probe and find out the Indian beneficiaries,’ said Javadekar.
The party posed questions to the government (see top box) asking it who received the kickbacks in the deal and what the connection between Switzerland-based Haschke and Indian company Emaar MGF is. The country’s principal opposition party also sought to know whether the government has issued letters rogatory in connection with deal.
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