 "We will do in Agusta what we could not in Bofors: Parrikar")
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the government would track down the main beneficiaries of the bribes paid in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal, doing what the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led government could not in the Bofors case.
Parrikar was replying to a calling attention motion on the deal in the Lok Sabha. The Congress, led by its president, Sonia Gandhi, and vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, staged a walkout, demanding a Supreme Court-monitored probe.
Speakers from the Congress argued the deal was pushed and specifications for the helicopter altered during the Vajpayee government. While Parrikar said the payments for the helicopters were made during Congress rule and it was obvious the bribes were received by people in that party. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate probes will find the main beneficiaries, he asserted.
The Bofors scam of the late 1980s had contributed to the defeat of the then Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government in the 1989 elections. However, subsequent probes into the deal to buy the Swedish artillery guns had largely been inconclusive.
During his speech, Parrikar accused the Congress of spreading rumours that the Rafale fighter jet deal was being signed for $9 billion. “We will reduce the deal value and we will save a lot. We will show them that we got a better deal than what (their) government was getting that time.” The Defence Minister also said that he suspected a conspiracy destroy evidence in the Agusta deal. The minister said he will ask the CBI to probe the "mysterious fire" that occurred in the premises of the Air Force Headquarters on July 3, 2014.
Countering the BJP's charges, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said, "Do not level baseless allegations. Supreme Court monitored investigation should happen and its reports should be placed in the House every three months." Scindia defended Sonia Gandhi and said nowhere in the judgment of the Italian court is her name mentioned. "Whenever the name of Sonia Gandhi comes, they start feeling irritated and they are afraid of her because she is a 'sherni' (lioness). That is why they (BJP) are afraid of her," he said.
He said it was the UPA government that had ordered an inquiry into allegations of bribery in the Agusta deal. Congress MPs kept asking the treasury benches why it took the current government two years to wake up to start probing the Agusta deal.
Parrikar was replying to a calling attention motion on the deal in the Lok Sabha. The Congress, led by its president, Sonia Gandhi, and vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, staged a walkout, demanding a Supreme Court-monitored probe.
Speakers from the Congress argued the deal was pushed and specifications for the helicopter altered during the Vajpayee government. While Parrikar said the payments for the helicopters were made during Congress rule and it was obvious the bribes were received by people in that party. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate probes will find the main beneficiaries, he asserted.
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Parrikar added his Congress predecessor, A K Antony, was aware that bribes have been accepted in the Rs 3,600-crore deal for 12 helicopters. “Antony is a man very conscious of his clean image. He hurriedly ordered a CBI inquiry and transferred the files within two-three hours to the agency.” He said the decision on the contract was taken in 2010. “Who gave the order?...How much has that person got? We have to find that...What we could not do in Bofors, maybe we will in AgustaWestland.”
The Bofors scam of the late 1980s had contributed to the defeat of the then Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government in the 1989 elections. However, subsequent probes into the deal to buy the Swedish artillery guns had largely been inconclusive.
During his speech, Parrikar accused the Congress of spreading rumours that the Rafale fighter jet deal was being signed for $9 billion. “We will reduce the deal value and we will save a lot. We will show them that we got a better deal than what (their) government was getting that time.” The Defence Minister also said that he suspected a conspiracy destroy evidence in the Agusta deal. The minister said he will ask the CBI to probe the "mysterious fire" that occurred in the premises of the Air Force Headquarters on July 3, 2014.
Countering the BJP's charges, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said, "Do not level baseless allegations. Supreme Court monitored investigation should happen and its reports should be placed in the House every three months." Scindia defended Sonia Gandhi and said nowhere in the judgment of the Italian court is her name mentioned. "Whenever the name of Sonia Gandhi comes, they start feeling irritated and they are afraid of her because she is a 'sherni' (lioness). That is why they (BJP) are afraid of her," he said.
He said it was the UPA government that had ordered an inquiry into allegations of bribery in the Agusta deal. Congress MPs kept asking the treasury benches why it took the current government two years to wake up to start probing the Agusta deal.