‘UPA must answer who received kickbacks’

“The moot question is who took the money in Agusta deal. Those who were at the helm at the time when the deal was struck owe an explanation. The Italian court has clearly said that an amount of Rs 125 crore was paid. It has even disclosed some names. The government of that day needs to answer,” Parrikar told reporters on the sidelines of foundation laying ceremony in Dehradun.

“Investigations will make it clear how much in kickbacks was paid and to whom, but the manner in which the deal was inked and efforts were made to favour a particular company will have to be explained by those in power at the time,” the minister said, adding that an Italian High Court equivalent had clearly said that political corruption was 15.8 million euros, which amounts to Rs 125 crore.

Meanwhile, CBI has started questioning Air Marshal (Rtd) J S Gujral in the chopper case. Gujral, who has earlier been examined as a witness in the case, was asked by the agency to come for questioning in the case as he, who retired as deputy chief of air staff, was in charge of procurements. CBI has also grilled former Air chief SP Tyagi.

Meanwhile, the Congress has accused BJP of lying and misleading people in the Agusta deal scam. Alleging that the BJP was making ‘mountain out of a molehill’, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked if the AgustaWestland was a ‘fraud’ company, then why did the government allow it to participate in several of defence related events, such as the Defence Expo.

“Why NDA government gave protection to AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica for the last two years? Smear campaigns by BJP cannot cover up the fact that BJP helped AgustaWestland,” Surjewala said.