Already facing the heat over several of his initiatives, many feel that the PM wanted to give a signal that if someone wants to invest in India, there is no need of a ‘middleman’- at least under his regime. ‘Therefore he wanted to have a fresh look as far as investment and foreigner partners are concerned,’ a party insider said.
In a startling revelation it was found that Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica, whose UK-based subsidiary AgustaWestland is entangled in the infamous VVIP helicopter kickbacks case, is on the government’s list in the Defence sector of the ‘Make in India’ portal, which was inaugurated with much fanfare by PM himself on Thursday. Two days ago businessman Gautam Khaitan was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the same Choppergate case. This was the first arrest in the money-laundering investigation into kickbacks worth crores allegedly paid to ensure that AgustaWestland landed the contract.
Earlier, India had scrapped the Rs 3,546 crore deal for 12 AW-101 VVIP helicopters on 1 January after allegations of bribery surfaced, which are being probed by the CBI. Interestingly, the ruling party before coming to power had demanded a high level probe into scam by stating that ‘There should be a thorough investigation to find out the money trail and the beneficiaries named as ‘FAM’ (family) and ‘AP’ etc in documents.’ Induction of Finmeccanica in the ‘sector list of foreign partners’ of ‘Make in India’ came in the midst of central government decision to impose ‘partial ban’ on Finmeccanica in the last week of August.
As per the partial ban clause, all the ongoing arms contracts with the company will continue but fresh contracts will not be allowed till further orders. Also, Rafael, an armament industry based in Israel, has also managed to be on the list of foreign partners for defence sector. Rafael is the same company which was under CBI scanner during the NDA rule in 2000. Rafael entered into a deal with the Indian government for acquiring seven Barak Missile Systems at a cost of 199.50 million USD on 23 October, 2000. The Barak scam was exposed in 2001 and following the probe by the CBI, it was found that ‘obscene amount of bribe’ was paid to middle men. Then several people including former defence minister George Fernandes and arms dealer Suresh Nanda were examined by CBI.
What came as another ‘self goal’ was putting on the list another US-based firm — Raytheon. In 2011, the firm was probed by the CBI following an allegation that an Indian intelligence officer has passed commercial information to Raytheon for participating in a bid to sell surveillance equipment for two spy planes to India. Then Israel’s Elta system, who was also in the race to clinch the deal, was the lowest bidder offering a price of around $300 million.
Sensing some misconduct, the deal, in which US based company Raytheon and Israel’s Elta Systems were competing, was put under review by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after discrepancies in the bidding process were found. Since then the matter is pending and no one was given a clean chit by India. But despite that Raytheon has figured in the list of foreign partners. Similarly, on 21 March CBI initiated a preliminary enquiry against officials of government-owned defence company Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and British manufacturer Rolls-Royce as well as the owners of Aashmore Pvt Ltd, a Singapore-based consultancy, in an alleged case of bribery of Rs 18.8 crore. However, despite this Rolls-Royce figures on the list.
Interestingly, in the pharmaceutical sector there is Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, which was accused of having violated norms in California. Last year, it was observed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in California that the company is involved in violations of workplace safety laws involving eye and face protection, and exposure to hazardous chemicals in laboratories.
In a startling revelation it was found that Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica, whose UK-based subsidiary AgustaWestland is entangled in the infamous VVIP helicopter kickbacks case, is on the government’s list in the Defence sector of the ‘Make in India’ portal, which was inaugurated with much fanfare by PM himself on Thursday. Two days ago businessman Gautam Khaitan was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the same Choppergate case. This was the first arrest in the money-laundering investigation into kickbacks worth crores allegedly paid to ensure that AgustaWestland landed the contract.
Earlier, India had scrapped the Rs 3,546 crore deal for 12 AW-101 VVIP helicopters on 1 January after allegations of bribery surfaced, which are being probed by the CBI. Interestingly, the ruling party before coming to power had demanded a high level probe into scam by stating that ‘There should be a thorough investigation to find out the money trail and the beneficiaries named as ‘FAM’ (family) and ‘AP’ etc in documents.’ Induction of Finmeccanica in the ‘sector list of foreign partners’ of ‘Make in India’ came in the midst of central government decision to impose ‘partial ban’ on Finmeccanica in the last week of August.
As per the partial ban clause, all the ongoing arms contracts with the company will continue but fresh contracts will not be allowed till further orders. Also, Rafael, an armament industry based in Israel, has also managed to be on the list of foreign partners for defence sector. Rafael is the same company which was under CBI scanner during the NDA rule in 2000. Rafael entered into a deal with the Indian government for acquiring seven Barak Missile Systems at a cost of 199.50 million USD on 23 October, 2000. The Barak scam was exposed in 2001 and following the probe by the CBI, it was found that ‘obscene amount of bribe’ was paid to middle men. Then several people including former defence minister George Fernandes and arms dealer Suresh Nanda were examined by CBI.
What came as another ‘self goal’ was putting on the list another US-based firm — Raytheon. In 2011, the firm was probed by the CBI following an allegation that an Indian intelligence officer has passed commercial information to Raytheon for participating in a bid to sell surveillance equipment for two spy planes to India. Then Israel’s Elta system, who was also in the race to clinch the deal, was the lowest bidder offering a price of around $300 million.
Sensing some misconduct, the deal, in which US based company Raytheon and Israel’s Elta Systems were competing, was put under review by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after discrepancies in the bidding process were found. Since then the matter is pending and no one was given a clean chit by India. But despite that Raytheon has figured in the list of foreign partners. Similarly, on 21 March CBI initiated a preliminary enquiry against officials of government-owned defence company Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and British manufacturer Rolls-Royce as well as the owners of Aashmore Pvt Ltd, a Singapore-based consultancy, in an alleged case of bribery of Rs 18.8 crore. However, despite this Rolls-Royce figures on the list.
Interestingly, in the pharmaceutical sector there is Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, which was accused of having violated norms in California. Last year, it was observed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in California that the company is involved in violations of workplace safety laws involving eye and face protection, and exposure to hazardous chemicals in laboratories.