VVIP chopper deal: Def Min hands over court documents to CBI

The Defence Ministry has handed over some documents received from an Italian court to the CBI to verify if there was any breach of contractual obligations by Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland in the Rs 3,600 crore deal for 12 helicopters, official sources said today.

If the CBI finds there was any breach of contractual obligation, the ministry will move towards termination of the contract even before the investigative agency files its report in the case, the sources told PTI here.

The documents were received after a high-level team headed by Director General (Acquisition) went to Italy recently to study the evidences and documents provided by the government there in the Rs 362 crore VVIP chopper scam, they said.

India has been given access to the evidence in the case after it was made a party in the ongoing trials in Italy in the chopper scam.

The government has told the court there that its decisions would not be binding and it would reserve the right to seek all possible legal remedies available to it in this country.

A Joint Secretary-level officer from the Defence Ministry is already in Milan to attend the second hearing of the case scheduled for tomorrow.

The Italian court in Milan began its trial on June 19 in the Rs 362-crore scam into the procurement of the VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland at a cost of Rs 3,600 crore in 2010.

Defence Minister A K Antony has already issued a show cause notice to the firm asking why its contract should not be cancelled in view of the charges levelled against it in Italy.

Former CEOs of Finmeccanica and AgustaWestland were arrested in February in connection with the case and are being tried by the Italian authorities there.