Facing possibility of cancellation of VVIP helicopter contract, AgustaWestland in its reply to the final show-cause notice by the Defence Ministry has denied any wrongdoing and maintained that it abided by the Defence procurement procedure.
The Ministry will now go through the reply and seek opinion of the law ministry due to legal implications before taking any action. The Anglo-Italian company was asked by the Defence Ministry to submit its reply by Tuesday as to why the contract should not be cancelled as integrity pact was violated.
The pact bars the vendor from hiring a middleman and paying bribes or commissions to bag the contract.
Director General (Acquisition) will analyse the reply given on Monday evening in the coming days besides seeking legal opinion as VVIP deal is an international contract, officials said here on Tuesday adding the government will not take a decision in a hurry. It may be mentioned here that Attorney General in his opinion two months back had told the government that there was violation of integrity pact.
The company faces allegations of paying a bribe of Rs 360 crore to bag the contract worth over Rs 3,600 crore inked in 2010 for 12 VVIP helicopters.
The Italian authorities started a probe in February this year and the Defence Ministry asked the CBI to investigate into the allegations in March. The contract was also frozen when the scam broke out and the IAF now has three helicopters.
Defence Minister AK Antony has already stated that the firm had violated the contract and refused to be drawn in a legal battle with it saying there was “no question” of the ministry getting into an arbitration process initiated by Agusta.