BJP poses queries to UPA govt on VVIP chopper deal

Posing questions to the UPA government on the VVIP chopper deal, BJP today demanded a time-bound monitored probe into the matter and said that the real issues were who finalised and signed the contract and the beneficiaries of the alleged kickbacks. "The issue is not technical specification but the real issues are the corruption and the kickbacks and the government's failure to order timely probe and find out the Indian beneficiaries," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here. He demanded a time-bound court-monitored CBI inquiry into the alleged kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore Augusta Westland helicopter deal. "The CBI inquiry will not yield any result in the UPA regime without monitoring by the court," Javadekar said, adding that in the 2G spectrum allocation case, the probe agency had conducted a "lame duck inquiry" for 15 months before the Supreme Court started monitoring it. The main opposition posed questions to the government. "Who finalised and signed the VVIP chopper deal? Who received the kickbacks? In two places, the Italian charge sheet talks about payment of 28 million Euros to 'The Family'. The nation wants to know who 'The Family' is?" Javadekar said. BJP also asked what is the connection between a Switzerland-based and an Indian company, and the status and role of another Indian firm in the chopper scam? It also sought to know whether the government has issued a Letters Rogatory in connection with this deal. Alleging that the government avoided a proper inquiry into the scam despite the matter coming to light a year ago, Javadekar said only an internal inquiry was conducted which was "eager to give a clean chit to the deal". "BJP demands the details of the internal inquiry done by the Ministry of Defence and how the government arrived at the conclusion that there was no 'foul play'," Javadekar said. He also maintained the government could have started a proper probe and that there was no need to wait for any official communication from Italy for doing so.