New Delhi: The UPA-era aviation deal between state-owned Indian Airlines and Airbus, to purchase 43 aircraft from the French flight manufacturer, may have allegedly caused a loss of nearly Rs 1,000 crore for the government, reportedly according to Enforcement Directorate documents.
The ED, which is investigating the alleged airline seat allotment scam and the Airbus deal, had earlier this month summoned former Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to appear before it on June 6.
A highly placed source said that while Patel has been asked to appear before the ED to look into his alleged role in the seat allotment case, the UPA Minister might be questioned about the Airbus deal as well if required.
According to the ED documents, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had initially approved the deal to purchase 43 aircraft from Airbus at a fixed price with the condition that the airplane manufacturer invests heavily in setting up ancillary infrastructure in India.
The clause in the deal posed that Airbus was to put in nearly USD 175 million, approximately Rs 1,000 crore into building training facilities for Indian Airlines pilots and infrastructure for maintenance, repairs, and overhauling of the aircraft. However, before the deal was passed, this clause binding Airbus to invest in India was removed and a new one was added.
The new clause approved by the CCS said that now instead of Airbus, Indian Airlines would have to bear the costs of sending its pilots and staff to training centres in the US, France, Germany, or China.
Both the CBI and the ED are looking into the role of lawyer and alleged middleman Deepak Talwar for using his influence with politicians to pull favours for foreign airline companies, causing heavy losses to national carriers.
In a chargesheet against Talwar and his son Aditya, the ED also mentioned Patel, claiming that he was a "dear friend" of Talwar. The agency had claimed to have email exchanges between Talwar and Patel and alleged that the two were in regular touch.
According to the ED, Talwar was allegedly paid Rs 272 crore by foreign private airlines like Air Arabia, Emirates, and Qatar Airways for securing favourable air traffic rights, sometime between 2008-09.