Asked whether the money paid to the Italian firm so far

can be claimed back by the Indian government, Antony said, "If the Indian government paid any amount of the money, as per the provisions of the integrity pact, we can get back the entire money we paid to the vendor." He mentioned that the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) governing all defence deals takes care of the integrity pact by the foreign vendors. "Not a single pie from the Indian government we will lose. As per the DPP, any contract beyond Rs 300 crores, before finalising the contract the vendor will have to sign an integrity pact with the Government of India, agreeing to our conditions. If they violate that condition, they are liable to criminal action," he said. The Defence Minister said companies are liable to be prosecuted and blacklisted for their lapses. He referred to the actions taken by the government in such cases, where six foreign defence firms were blacklisted. "I told you earlier that a CBI inquiry... After their first report, they recommended certain actions against companies. The moment we received the complaint, we did not hesitate, we blacklisted six companies. Out of that four are most powerful international companies," he said. Antony stressed that tough action will be taken against the guilty, despite their stature. "We are not bothered about who the companies are, how strong they are and how influential they are. But everything depends on the CBI inquiry. The moment we get a report from the CBI, whoever is found guilty, Indian or foreigners, we will take strongest action against them. They will have to pay the price for their lapses," he said. (More)