Unfazed by corruption charges levelled by noted Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhusan over Agusta Westland helicopter deal in Chhattisgarh, State Chief Minister Raman Singh on Thursday refuted former’s allegations while stating that the deal was ‘fully transparent’.
“The charges are politically motivated which is aimed at diluting the Rs 3,600 crore Agusta Westland deal, in which a court at Milan in Italy while passing its judgment had pointed out that kickbacks of Rs 225 crore were paid,” the Chief Minister told reporters in a hurriedly convened press conference at his official residence here.
It is an attempt to divert the Augusta helicopter corruption case in which big leaders of Congress party are involved, he claimed. The Chief Minister who was accompanied by State Cabinet Minister Ajay Chandrakar, Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand and others stressed that no corruption charges were levelled on the helicopter deal in Chhattisgarh when it was purchased in year 2006-07.
Only the CAG in its report had pointed out that if the State Government would have directly purchased the chopper from the company instead of floating tenders, then Rs 65 lakh could have been saved, he said.
“On one hand there is this Rs 3,600 crore helicopter deal with an Italian court confirming kickbacks of Rs 225 crore while prosecuting certain people and on the other hand is CAG report which says that the State Government could have saved Rs 65 lakh if the chopper was purchased earlier,” the Chief Minister said while drawing the distinctions.