Antony said in the procurement process for the

AgustaWestland choppers, all wings of the Government including the Ministry, IAF and SPG had "followed all the procedures. In spite of that one thing is clear that something happened somewhere." "It is the decision of the government that we must get to the root of the controversy to find out the truth and must find out the culprits. And whosoever is responsible, must be brought to justice at the earliest and then ensure maximum punishment. It is the resolve of the entire government," he said. Asked about the reason for the Government to take a series of actions in the last one week after it waited for one year for details from Italy and the UK, the Defence Minister said, "When the report came that the CEO of the company (Finmeccanica) was arrested, we decided to refer the matter to the CBI." Last Tuesday, Finmeccanica CEO Giueseppe Orsi and AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini were arrested by Italian investigators in connection with the alleged scam in which Rs 362 crore have been allegedly paid as kickbacks. The Minister said he has taken a series of actions including referring the matter to the CBI, suspending the deal and payments for it after the reports of the arrest came in. "We have now taken action for the cancellation of the contract for which we have given a show cause notice and we are waiting for the reply (from Italy). We are also awaiting the return of our official and the CBI team. We will proceed as per law but we will not show any mercy towards anyone," he said.(MORE)