Chopper: Agusta makes presentation before Finance Ministry

Staring at the prospect of being blacklisted by the Defence Ministry in the wake of the chopper scam, Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland has made a detailed presentation before the Finance Ministry to present its side in the whole episode.
AgustaWestland made a presentation to the senior officials of the Finance Ministry to present its case in the chopper scam, sources said here.
The presentation to the Finance Ministry was made by the firm soon after it wrote a letter to Finance Minister P Chidambaram seeking release of nearly Rs 2,400 crore which has been put on hold by the defence ministry pending the CBI inquiry into the case.

The firm had virtually complained to the Finance Ministry against the A K Antony-led Ministry saying there were certain "contractual difficulties" with the defence ministry and holding back its payments amounted to "breach of contract".
Asked about its presentation to the Finance Ministry, the firm said, "Like many large organisations, we have regular interactions with the various departments of all the governments with whom we work. As such, there was recently a routine meeting with the Finance Ministry."
On whether AgustaWestland was trying to bypass the Defence Ministry to get the deal cleared, the firm said, "There is no intent to do so."

The firm said it has been requesting for meetings with the Defence Ministry "numerous times, most recently on April 15 when AgustaWestland formally invoked the contractual requirement for bilateral discussions on the VVIP programme. To date there has been no response."
In its letter to the Finance Minister, the firm had said that as per the principles of justice under Indian and Italian laws, till proven guilty, "no individual or organisation" can be held guilty and investigations were still on in both the countries in the case.