The Chhattisgarh unit of the Congress party on Monday demanded a CBI probe into Agusta Westland chopper deal made by Chhattisgarh Government.
“The BJP is adopting double standards in Agusta Westland case. During UPA regime, when Agusta scam surfaced, immediately a probe was launched. However, in Chhattisgarh the Chief Minister’s son has invested in foreign countries but the Central Government here is running away from probe,” charged State Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel while addressing a Press conference here on Monday.
Referring to the purchase of the chopper in Chhattisgarh, Baghel claimed that the State Government had paid brokerage of $2.9 million to a company based in Hong Kong.
“The Hong Kong based company made investments in Singapore and this way the money reached British Virgin Islands,” he told reporters.
Senior Congress leader Mohammed Akbar who was also present during the Press conference said that the company which took brokerage was formed in 2002 and its authorized capital at the time of its formation was 10,000 Hong Kong dollars which comes to Rs 50,500 .
“This company from which the State Government purchased the chopper, on record deals in real estate and had no experience of selling helicopters,” Akbar said.
According to him, the other major violation of the norms in the deal was that the company with which chopper was being purchased must have its office in India, however; this company didn’t have any office in India.
Baghel further said that the UPA Government had forfeited the chopper and around Rs 15,000 crore from Agusta Westland. It had also blacklisted the company related with Agusta Westland.
“The NDA Government after coming to power had invited the black listed company to be part of its ‘Make in India’ campaign. This should be made clear,” Baghel said while demanding CBI probe into the matter.