AgustaWestland: Why defence purchases needed middlemen during Cong's tenure, asks Jaitley

Why Defence purchases needed middlemen in Congress' tenure, asked Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday, while taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi-led Congress party over the extradition of alleged lobbyist Deepak Talwar and co-accused in AgustaWestland case Rajiv Saxena.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday got four-day custody of Saxena, and Talwar after they were extradited to India from Dubai on Wednesday.

The two were arrested at around 2 am on Thursday after they landed in Delhi in a special aircraft at around 1.30 am.

Jaitley further asserted that no one who cheats India will be allowed to escape.

"No one who cheats INDIA can hide anywhere in the world and escape. INDIA's Diplomatic strength and more civilized International procedures will get better of him," he tweeted.

"The UPA Skeletons are tumbling out by the day. Why did all Defence purchases need middlemen? If the Prime Minister is honest, if he imposes a culture of honesty in governance, no person who cheats India will escape," he added.

Saxena is accused of playing a key role in laundering the money received to pay kickbacks in the scam, while Talwar is accused of concealing income of more than Rs 1,000 crore as well as facilitating civil aviation contracts when the United Progressive Alliance was in power.

The Congress government had inked the Rs 3,565-crore helicopter deal with British-Italian firm AgustaWestland in 2010. The deal got stalled after Italy held the chief of Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland's parent company, on charges of paying bribes to win the contract.