The BJP went all out against the Congress leadership in the AgustaWestland deal as its party MP Subramanian Swamy repeatedly named Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday as the “driving force” in the chopper scam and urged the Government to ensure that she, and all those named in the Italian judgment, were grilled by the CBI. Another BJP MP, Bhupender Yadav, who initiated the debate, said that India has to now identify and punish bribe-takers since the Italians have already convicted the bribe-givers.
Changing its strategy, the BJP first fielded Bhupender Yadav instead of Swamy, who was expected to start the debate. This was done because, unlike “fiery” Swamy, Yadav could place the entire summary of the case in a “cool” atmosphere.
Yadav, who had given notice for a short duration discussion, said it was a “serious” matter that several decades after Independence, transparency in Defence deals has not been ushered in.
He said that norms were repeatedly modified, overruling reservations expressed by then Defence Minister Antony and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and added that he wanted the real culprits to be punished.
Then came the turn of Swamy, who said that since the previous speaker, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had cited the portions of the Italian judgment naming Indian politicians, he should also be allowed to cite the same documents in the judgment.
Swamy said, “The CBI should question or record the statements of all those named in the Italian court judgment. The CBI has the right under Section 156 of CrPC to question the person who is mentioned in the Italian court judgment as the driving force behind the AgustaWestland chopper deal.”
Tactfully avoiding Sonia’s name in the earlier portions of the speech, Swamy named Sonia at the later stage by reading out the portion of the Italian court judgment naming her and authenticated the documents he relied on.
In his more than 40 minute speech, Swamy said it was the UPA Government that changed specifications to favour Agusta choppers. “But you people lied and said that the specifications were changed by the NDA Government,” he said.
Swamy said that although the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2004 said the VVIP choppers must be able to fly at altitudes of up to 6,000 metres for safety reasons, the Agusta choppers could not fly above 4,500 metres. He said the Air Force insisted on 6,000 metres to avoid possible attacks from shoulder-fired missiles from across the border.
Blaming Manmohan Singh and AK Antony, Swamy said both were forced to change the rules to favour Agusta. “We all know under whose dictation Manmohan Singh and Antony changed the rules. You people have to question to know the truth,” he said, adding that later the Defence Ministry changed the cabin height norms and bench price to favour Agusta.
“The internationally-accepted standard for a chopper’s cabin height is 1.45 metres. But in this case, the cabin height specification was set at 1.80 metres. Only AgustaWestland could fulfill this condition and the rest were out,” he said.
“Second, field trials were done with a different model than the one purchased, and the AW101 was cleared on the basis of these trials. Does it not attract prosecution under Section 420 of the IPCIJ” he asked.
Citing Italian court’s documents, he alleged that a bribe of euros 30 million was paid, out of which euros 6 million went to IAF personnel, euros 8.4 million to bureaucrats and Rs 125 crore to ‘AP’.
Swamy’s speech was repeatedly disrupted by the Congress members, who created a ruckus, with its leaders insisting on authentication of whatever documents he was reading from. He replied that he was reading from the same note that Abhishek Singhvi had read from.
He said if he had to authenticate, then Singhvi also should do so as there cannot be separate rules for different people. In the midst of exchanges, Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said both will have to be authenticated. Singhvi then authenticated his documents.
“It is a lie to say that the NDA had lowered the flying height from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres,” he said, citing a 2013 Parliament reply of then Defence Minister AK Antony in which he said that in 2004 the IAF had said 6,000 metres was an “inescapable necessity”. He said the tender issued in 2006 had incorporated the changes.
Alleging corruption during the UPA Government, Swamy said, however, that he knows personally that then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would do no wrong but “he takes orders easily”. He added that Singh’s evidence should be recorded.
Wondering why Antony was overruled when it came to Agusta, the BJP leader said, “From my personal knowledge I will say it wasn’t Dr Manmohan Singh.” He said the helicopter, AW101, which was bought, was not used for field trial. Trials in Italy took place on a different chopper and AW101 was shown as passed, he said, alleging this was a “fraud” committed on the people of India which is prosecutable under Section 420. Swamy also said Antony should be answerable why he changed the Air Force bench price from Rs 798 crore to Rs 4,900 crore in September 2008.
Swamy said the original proposal was to buy eight helicopters, but after it became clear that Agusta was the only one to qualify, the UPA decided to buy four more.
Ending his speech, Swamy also asked the Government to look into the issue of money being paid to the middleman to manage the Indian media so that reports in favour of the company were released.
Earlier Yadav claimed that several favours were done by a “generous” UPA, including allowing trials of the helicopters to be held abroad.
The BJP member also claimed that the helicopters were purchased at a cost six times higher that the estimated cost and the number of the helicopters to be purchase was increased from eight to 12. Claiming that Defence procurement procedures were not followed, he said even after paying a higher price, the warranty was reduced.
He said a recommendation had been made to change the MI-8 helicopters for VVIP travel in 1999 when the NDA was in power and it was emphasised that the procurement should not be done through a single vendor system.