Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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Manish_P
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Manish_P »

Who knows, this may result in a MMRCA style evaluation of contenders like the YAK 130, Aermacchi M-346 Master, the KAI T-50 Golden Eagle with the requirement for Make-in-India and a new decade long saga to keep us BRFites enthralled :)
Gyan
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Gyan »

I had pointed out that Hawk AJT trainer seems massively inflated if we calculate the requirement on the basis that we need 60 hours per annum for 400 trainees. Hawk can generate 60 hours per month of flying time. Instead of 40 Hawks we have wasted money on 120 Hawks and intend to order more.
ramana
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by ramana »

Please use this thread for Augusta Helicopter arrests news.

Thanks, ramana
svinayak
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by svinayak »

http://www.news18.com/news/india/who-is ... 21532.html
Former Air Force Chief Shashindra Pal Tyagi, commonly known as S P Tyagi, was arrested for his alleged involvement in Rs 450 crore Agusta Westland bribery case in procurement of 12 VVIP helicopters and was sent to four-day CBI custody on Saturday.

- S P Tyagi, also known as Bundle, was born at Indore (Madhya Pradesh) on March 14, 1945.
- Tyagi was announced as the new Indian Air Force (IAF) chief on October 31, 2004 and took charge on January 1, 2005.
- Tyagi served as the Chief of the Air Staff in the IAF from 2005 to 2007. He had joined IAF on December 31, 1963.
- Prior to becoming chief of the IAF, he was commanding the Western Air Command of the air force.
- Tyagi was commissioned in the fighter stream of the IAF on December 31, 1963. During the initial period of his career, he flew Gnats with No.23 Squadron and Hunters of No.27 Squadron.
- The ex-air force chief had participated in the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars.
- He is a recipient of the Param Vishist Seva Medal (PVSM) (2003). PVSM is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order.
- He was appointed as one of the honorary Aide-de-Camps (ADC) of the President of India in 2003.
svinayak
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by svinayak »

The changed specification of VVIP helicopters, especially the reduction in service ceiling, were made under the advice of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), said former Indian Air Force (IAF) chief SP Tyagi on Saturday, after which a court sent him to CBI custody till 14 December in the Rs 3,767-crore AgustaWestland helicopter case.

"The PMO then advised to keep the minimum mandatory requirement of the service ceiling of the helicopters to 4,500 metres (from the earlier 6,000 metres)," Tyagi's defence counsel N Hariharan told the court while opposing the CBI plea seeking custodial interrogration of the accused.
ramana
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by ramana »

Svinayak Thanks.
UlanBatori
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by UlanBatori »

Arresting the lawyer is unusual, hain? Also saw something about a relative of the ACM. Charges of conspiracy to defraud? How was the ACM to benefit personally? Is the money trail coming direct from Oiropean case against A-W?
shiv
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by shiv »

svinayak wrote: "The PMO then advised to keep the minimum mandatory requirement of the service ceiling of the helicopters to 4,500 metres (from the earlier 6,000 metres)," Tyagi's defence counsel N Hariharan told the court while opposing the CBI plea seeking custodial interrogration of the accused.
There will need to be some evidence of this. This will be a problem because anything written will have been destroyed or will be getting destroyed at this very moment.

"PMO's office" is a very nebulous entity. It could have been any influential Lutyens baboo with Sonia connection who dun it.
ShauryaT
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by ShauryaT »

It is good of GoI to go after the high and mighty and bring them to the book. Looking for similar actions in other streams.

‘Tyagi-itis’ hollowing out the military and the country
Other Service chiefs in the past escaped similar fates, often by the proverbial whisker and, on more than one occasion, because the government and political leaders of the day were concerned about the negative impact on the Indian military, and its reputation, of marching off bribe/commission takers among senior beribboned, bemedalled, brass to jail. The tainted lot among the flag-rank officers in the three armed services are known to their comrades and colleagues, and many agencies of the government. Whether military officers should be held to a higher standard pf propriety than politicians, civil servants, judges and, if so why, are issues that have not been discussed publicly or debated widely. Do the armed forces personnel not reflect the flaws and foibles of the Indian people at-large? If the people tolerate corruption, are willy-nilly, parties to it, why should one expect military officers sprung from such a society to be any different?
Or consider that the fount of corruption in the Indian defence aerospace imports sphere — the London-based Choudhrie Family, owes its wrong kind of preeminence to a former chairman of HAL — BK Kapur who used the first of the large combat aircraft import-cum-licensed production deals involving the MiG-21 in the late-’60s to set his wife’s side of the family up — with Shudhir Choudhrie presently in the van, as arms middlemen with intimate connections into the ruling political families. Thus Shudhir’s niece is married to Kamal Nath’s son (see http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-sh ... ls-1968457). In fact, it is the country’s complete dependence on imported armaments from aircraft to pistols that established a number of middleman “dynasties” in New Delhi, including the late ADM SM Nanda’s son former Lt Cmdr Suresh Nanda, Abhishek Verma progeny of a senior Congress party person, MS Sahni, the Suresh Kalmadi-linked S Mulchandani, SV Khemka, et al (http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/ ... ce-dynasty).

It is this umbilical cord between defence-related imports and corruption which is at the heart of all the country’s national security troubles, which I have sought over the years to highlight. The Congress Party regime of Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh was lax in policing for the obvious reasons that many in the ruling dispensation benefited directly from the arms trade. The BJP government of Narendra Modi has no reason whatsoever not to slice off this connection by simply terminating the arms import channel and, as this analyst has been urging for over two decades now, integrating the pubic sector defence industrial infrastructure under Indian private sector leadership and tasking the resulting, preferably, two competing combines to make everything needed by the military and, in the meantime, wielding dexterous diplomacy to balance power in the extended region, Asia, and the world.
This solution first detailed by me in a 1999 paper as member of the ‘Technology’ group tasked with Strategic Review in the first NSAB, hasn’t been acted upon since then, and won’t be in the future, perhaps, because too many in the armed services, in the bureaucracy and, of course, in the political class are infected by ‘Tyagitis’ — a malady that’s dragging the country down into the pits and, more significantly, because PM Modi seems to be only ultimately a small risktaker and not one who, demonetization notwithstanding, is a high-value disruptor, when disruption is what’s called for and incidentally something he promised in his 2014 election campaign. Recall his slogan — “The government has no business to be in business”? Ending the import culture, ethos, and milieu generally, which is long entrenched in Lutyten’s Delhi, is necessary because it is at the root of India’s problems. To do this will be to signal a very big change, and that apparently is beyond Modi.
I share the assessment but hope Modi does realize the transformation in governance is through transformation of government. Strong management and execution can take one only so far.
rohitvats
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by rohitvats »

Truth be told, I think CBI is on very flimsy ground with respect to any charge of wrong-doing by ACM Tyagi.

The process of changing the specifications of the helicopter tender were initiated before his tenure, the trials happened after his tenure and the contract was signed during tenure of N+2 air chief (where N=ACM Tyagi). And the GOI of the time has maintained that one of the key specifications (ceiling height) was changed basis inputs from then NSA, Brajesh Mishra while the criteria of cabin height (1.8 meter minimum) was brought in basis inputs from SPG.

CBI's argument is that IAF agreed to relaxation of ceiling requirement under his tenure, something which it had opposed before. And hence, this must have been done for monetary gains. Fact of the matter is, IAF was reduced to ONE of the entities in decision making and all relaxations were part of group decision.

Second contention is that IAF tested a version of AW-101 which was not exactly same as all modifications requested by IAF - this again does not fly because one, trials happened under N+1 Chief and AW-101 is a proven platform which has been service for more than a decade. Modifications asked for by us were simply add-on and nothing earth shattering.

My conspiracy theory says that he has been arrested only as a cover to catch big fish and prove GOI/agency is neutral. He is meant to go free. Any half decent lawyer will thrash CBI's case against him.
Viv S
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Viv S »

rohitvats wrote:My conspiracy theory says that he has been arrested only as a cover to catch big fish and prove GOI/agency is neutral. He is meant to go free. Any half decent lawyer will thrash CBI's case against him.
Ordinarily I'd have agreed except that the CBI also arrested Julie Tyagi and Gautam Khaitan, who as civilians has no discretion vis a vis official decisions but were in a position to serve as a conduit for funds/backroom agreements. Their arrests wouldn't have been possible if they was no evidence linking them to the deal. Which to me suggests that the CBI's case may not be without foundation.
rohitvats
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by rohitvats »

^^^I'm referring solely to the case against ACM Tyagi.

His brothers are known deal brokers in the powers of corridors for quite some time and across different sectors. Their case is different.

CBI has to prove that ACM Tyagi got some benefit for agreeing to alter the specifications. On that front, everything is overboard and documented.
chetak
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by chetak »

shiv wrote:
svinayak wrote: "The PMO then advised to keep the minimum mandatory requirement of the service ceiling of the helicopters to 4,500 metres (from the earlier 6,000 metres)," Tyagi's defence counsel N Hariharan told the court while opposing the CBI plea seeking custodial interrogration of the accused.
There will need to be some evidence of this. This will be a problem because anything written will have been destroyed or will be getting destroyed at this very moment.

"PMO's office" is a very nebulous entity. It could have been any influential Lutyens baboo with Sonia connection who dun it.
the mention of TKA Nair is very very interesting.

many other scams and a lots of very dirty linen, may be exposed / washed in public.

There seems to be one baboo(n) whose service was contiguous across the major chunk of the time frame mentioned and after retirement, he was very conveniently parked in statutory/constitutional position with a breathtaking view of the jang ka maidan.

is hamam me sab ke sab nange hain.

Following received by email
Former IAF Chief Arrested 09 Dec 2016

In 2000, the MoD wanted to buy a VVIP helicopter, for which the IAF was roped in to create specs and evaluate a suitable helicopter for the requirements sent by the MoD.

In 2003, after evaluation, the IAF recommended only one helicopter, the Eurocopter EC225. The AugustaWestland AW101 did not have the specified 6,000 metre altitude ceiling and therefore was rejected.

Brajesh Mishra blocked the evaluation asking why a 6,000m ceiling was required. The ceiling was reduced to 4,500m. AW101 now qualified but Eurocopter did too.

Then SPG said the cabin height of 1.39m of Eurocopter EC225 was too less. At least 1.8m cabin height was required. Now Eurocopter was out of the reckoning. Only the AW101 passed the cabin height specification.

Because of the chaos caused, fresh proposals were invited from 6 vendors. Only 3 responded - Sikorsky, Mikoyan and AugustaWestland. Mikoyan rejected the integrity clause in the Indian contract. So now there were only Sikorsky and AugustaWestland in the fray.

Meanwhile ACM Tyagi retired in 2007

In 2008, trials for AugustaWestland AW101 and Sikorsky S-92 were held by the IAF. AugustaWestland won the contract.

Contract for supply of AugustaWestland AW101 was signed in Feb 2010.

The first AW101 was supplied in 2012.

Scandal breaks out in 2012-2013.

It is hard to believe that one person took charge of the whole Govt of India, altered specifications and manipulated trials even after he retired. He thereby relegated competitors, increased the price, and influenced the signing of a Rs 3,600 crore contract for his sponsor AgustaWestland.

Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi – CAS (Dec 2004 to Mar 2007) must have been the most powerful person on Raisina Hill, before and after his tenure, since the specifications were framed in 2003, trials were conducted in 2008 and the contract signed in 2010. So, what exactly did this one man do?

Is it a replay of l'affaire Dreyfus (1894, Paris)?

The Mysterious Scam - Step by Step

2000: Proposal for new helicopter by IAF on behalf of PMO, MoD & MHA
2003: Only Eurocopter EC 225 is cleared by IAF
Brajesh Mishra's intervention - why 6,000 metres?
SPG objection - Cabin is very low (1.39 metres)
2003: New Specifications framed by IAF
Altitude of 4,500 metres, and
Cabin Height of 1.80 metres
2006: Request For the Proposal to 6 firms
Only 3 Firms responded
Mi-172 rejected the integrity contract
2008: Trials for Sikorsky S-92 and AW101
AW101 recommended
2010: Contract signed in February
2012: The first AW 101 arrived in India
2012-13: Scandal Revealed

The Cast - IAF Chiefs

AY Tipnis (1998-2001)
CAS during Kargil War
Did not salute President Musharraf (2001)
S Krishnaswamy (2001-2004)
Mention in Despatches (1966) and
Vayu Sena Medal (1978, 1982)
SP Tyagi (2004-2007)
Veteran of the 1965 and 1971 Wars
Commissioning crew for the Jaguar.
FH Major (2007-2009)
First helicopter pilot to be CAS
Shaurya Chakra for Timber Trail rescue (1992)
PV Naik (2009-2011)
Veteran of 1971 Indo-Pak War
His elder son is in the IAF
NAK Browne (2011-2013)
His son, Oman is in the IAF
Ambassador to Norway (Sep 2014-2016)

The Cast - Defence Secretary

Yogendra Narain (2000-2002)
Secretary-General of Rajya Sabha (2002-07)
Director - Reliance Power.
Subir Dutta (2002-2002)
Member UPSC (2003-08) and Chairman (2007-08)
Ajay Prasad (2003-2004)
Director - OIA
Ajai Vikram Singh (2004-2005)
Director - Pipavav Defence
Shekhar Dutt (2005-2007)
Deputy National Security Advisor (2007-09)
Governor of Chhattisgarh (2010-14, sacked)
Vijay Singh (2007-2009)
Member UPSC (2009-13)
Director at Tata Sons
Pradeep Kumar (2009-2011)
Secretary for Defence Production (2008-09)
Defence Secretary (2009-11)
Central Vigilance Commissioner (2011-15)
Shashi Kant Sharma (2011-2013)
Joint Secretary with AF HQ (2003-07)
DG Acquisition (2007-10)
Defence Secretary (2011-13)
CAG (May 2013 to 2018)

The Air Force was called in only to evaluate the helicopters offered. The specifications were set by the GoI, the specifications were changed by the GoI, the trials and evaluation were carried out by the IAF, after the accused had retired.

At what point of the entire fracas was the accused in a position to influence the trial, evaluation, the purchase decision or the contract?

Once again, the big fish have digested and burped. Someone else is in the net.
tsarkar
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by tsarkar »

In my opinion, and as others have pointed out, the height requirement of 4500 meters is extremely flimsy. A brief search of altitude ceiling of various helicopters show -

Mi-25/35 - 5700 meters
UH-60 - 5790 meters
Apache 5900 meters
Mi-17 6000 meters
LCH - 6500 meters (design specs - actual unknown)

Just presenting the above data in court will tear apart the case.

Fraud needs to be investigated via the money trail - like S P Tyagi's cousins getting offsets for developing non existent software.

Or why Robert Vadra and his secy are discussing interior furnishing of a London Apartment not belonging to them.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... l-2828280/
Officials in the Department have confirmed to The Indian Express that just before the search operation was over, Bhandari was confronted with the batch of emails, including one dated April 4, 2010 — the only one sent from Vadra’s own email ID and signed off by him — and he acknowledged the exchanges on the subject of finalising interiors for an apartment in London....

...An attachment to one of the mails shows that while the cost of refurbishing was earlier estimated by Sumit Chadda, a relative of Bhandari, to be 28,000 pounds, additional items were added to the worklist and the estimate went up to 35,000 pounds.
chetak
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by chetak »

tsarkar wrote:In my opinion, and as others have pointed out, the height requirement of 4500 meters is extremely flimsy. A brief search of altitude ceiling of various helicopters show -

Mi-25/35 - 5700 meters
UH-60 - 5790 meters
Apache 5900 meters
Mi-17 6000 meters
LCH - 6500 meters (design specs - actual unknown)

Just presenting the above data in court will tear apart the case.

Fraud needs to be investigated via the money trail - like S P Tyagi's cousins getting offsets for developing non existent software.

Or why Robert Vadra and his secy are discussing interior furnishing of a London Apartment not belonging to them.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... l-2828280/
Officials in the Department have confirmed to The Indian Express that just before the search operation was over, Bhandari was confronted with the batch of emails, including one dated April 4, 2010 — the only one sent from Vadra’s own email ID and signed off by him — and he acknowledged the exchanges on the subject of finalising interiors for an apartment in London....

...An attachment to one of the mails shows that while the cost of refurbishing was earlier estimated by Sumit Chadda, a relative of Bhandari, to be 28,000 pounds, additional items were added to the worklist and the estimate went up to 35,000 pounds.

each change of spec or inclusion of additional requirements enabled the entry of ANOTHER manufacturer into the fray.

Everybody was having a go, the pump being primed by various middlemen representing other helo entities.

the financial vultures in the MoD, MoF were patiently waiting for the dust to settle before they started to feed on the carcass of the contract that they themselves had written to benefit all interested parties.

bribe was split as below note produced as evidence in the eyetalian court and (tyagi's + family) name seems to be listed as well

Italian Court judgment exposing Sonia Gandhi & Manmohan Singh in AgustaWestland Deal (Full report)


The Italian court’s judgment exposes the role of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh in AgustaWestland Chopper Deal. The 225-page judgment also reveals that Sonia’s Political Secretary accepted the commission of €15 to 16 million ($17 – 18 million) from the middlemen. The judgment of the appeal court in Milan convicting AgustaWestland chopper company chief Giuseppe Orsi described how the firm paid bribes to top Congress leaders in India and lobbied with them to bag the Rs 3600-crore ($451 million) deal. Reproducing the handwritten notes seized from middlemen, the judgment says that the political leaders accepted the commission of 15 to 16 million Euros (around Rs.120 to 125 crores) in the controversial purchase of 12 VVIP chopper deal. It also names the role of Sonia Gandhi’s trusted aide and AICC General Secretary Oscar Fernandes and the then National Security Advisor MK Narayanan (Page 193).

Mrs. Gandhi and her closest advisers are the people who the British ambassador should target…

The 225-page judgment of the appeal court in Milan also annexed several documents, handwritten notes exchanged between the middlemen on how the total commission of Euro 30 million between India’s political leaders, bureaucracy, and Air Force officials.
Payoff details of Euro 30 million for the AgustaWestland chopper deal

Sonia Gandhi’s name (signora GANDHI) is mentioned four times, two times each on page 193 and 204 of the judgment, convicting Orsi and other officials of Finmeccanica, the firm which manufactures AgustaWestland VVIP Choppers. Orsi and other officials were convicted for four and a half years.

A letter dated March 15, 2008, seized by investigators shows the main middleman Christian Michel, who is still a fugitive, writing to Peter Hulet, then India region sales and liaison head of the helicopter company. The letter states that Sonia is the main driving force behind this deal and she will no longer fly in the existing MI- 8 choppers. The letter is quoted verbatim in the judgment. Details of lobbying and corruption of Congress leadership, writing to the then British High Commissioner in India that he should target top Congress leadership for clinching the deal are clearly explained.

Names of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Ahmed Patel in Pg 204“Dear Peter, since Mrs. Gandhi is the driving force behind VIP will no longer fly in the MI-8. Mrs. Gandhi and her closest advisers are the people who the British ambassador should target,” said the letter of Michel seized by the probe team. This letter was seized from the home of arrested middleman Guido Haschke in later early 2013.

The judgment also says Haschke had identified all the Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Ahmed Patel on the court when their photos were shown to him during the trial by the Italian prosecution.

The Page 9 of the Judgment also affixed the handwritten note of Michel exchanged to Haschke on how to distribute the total commission of 30 Million Euro. Air Force officials were allotted six Million Euro and Bureaucracy including Defence Ministry officials to be allotted 8.4 Million Euro. The note gives split up to several top bureaucrats like DG Acquisition, Defence Secretary (DS), Joint Secretary(JS) etc.

The note says Political leaders were to be allotted 15 to 16 Million Euro and the name shown to political level was noted as AP. Only one political leader to whom the money handed over is shown as AP, which refers to Ahmed Patel as confirmed on page 204 (see picture above). The note also shows on sharing the commission with ‘Family’ and the Judgment says it meant the family of the then Air Force Chief S P Tyagi.
Image
srin
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by srin »

The entire chopper deal seems to be a farce ...
First, I question the requirement itself. The primary reason seems to be George Fernandes visiting SBC, which may require flying from Leh to Thoise over 5600m Khardung La. Or maybe Tawang. Not that he went there everyday. Why do you need a dedicated chopper for that ?
Then, the deal has become enlarged - all VVIPs wanting to use the chopper. And for other purposes.
They realise that going to 6000m is not necessary anymore - no senior minister is cut from GF's cloth and reduce it to 4500m. Of course, their royal posteriors can't be seated on a converted Mi-17s !
Now SPG wants to be on the flight. So, they put their requirements.
What a waste of time.
rohitvats
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by rohitvats »

^^^On the cabin height front, Mi-17 cabin height is 1.8 meter. So, you cannot fault SPG for asking the same in replacement chopper. Eurocopter E-225 which qualified in first instance has surprisingly low height of under 1.5 meter.

To me, the kickback in this deals seems like the 'hafta' that you've to pay to the local Don to ply your trade. Overall kickback amount of some ₹ 365 crore sits neatly at about 10% cut on the total deal value.

If the nature of hanky Panky was more, the kickback amount would've been higher. This is just the 'family' taking its share to allow business to happen.

Also, this is one case where CBI will have to prove motive because they've a money trail. And not othet way around.
Rakesh
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Rakesh »

Sweden calls off Bofors scandal probe to avoid embarrassment to Rajiv Gandhi in secret scheme: CIA
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... 766584.cms
“Stockholm wanted to save Gandhi the troubles caused him (sic) by the Swedish leak and Nobel industries (the mother company) wanted to avoid a bribery indictment. The two sides cooperated therefore on a scheme to keep details of the payments secret.
Lilo
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Lilo »

Words of the outgoing Raksha Mantri - the best we had in our existence as an independent nation.

He minces no words in saying that those in the defence setup(including the armed forces) who didnt discourage export dependence were awarded with high positions post retirement.
All linked to Agusta got good posts, says Manohar Parrikar
May 9, 2016,

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday said all those linked to the VVIP copter deal were given “good positions” after their retirement.

“Many people who had some links with Agusta, I am not saying illegitimate links, but some links with Agusta procurement and supply, were given good positions,” Mr Parrikar told PTI in an interview.

Asserting that they were good to the powers at that time, he said, “They were close to the powers at that time. They were favourites. So obviously, they were placed there to ensure this deal goes through. It is an indirect evidence.”

He said it was for the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to decide whether to question the people concerned or not.

When asked to elaborate on his remarks that people linked to Agusta deal were given governorship, ambassadorship among others during an interaction with a TV channel, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said, “If you see, many people from there (Agusta days) are sitting in good positions. Someone became governor, someone became an ambassador, I am not questioning them but one has become constitutional authority.....(These) people are at good positions...”

“Who do you make an ambassador? Who do you make a constitutional authority? Only those whom you trust. It proves that they believed in them otherwise they would not be in positions,” he had told a TV channel.


Several top officials, including the then NSA M.K. Narayanan (former governor of West Bengal), the then SPG chief B.V. Wanchoo (former governor of Goa), current Comptroller and Auditor General and former defence secretary Shashikant Sharma, who was involved in the matter as then joint secretary (air), were all involved in decision making process that eventually led to the selection of the AgustaWestland choppers.

Former Air Force Chief N.A.K. Browne, currently India’s Ambassador to Norway,
has strongly refuted as “baseless and malicious” reports that he was a “common link” in three major defence deals involving AgustaWestland, Rafale and Pilatus aircraft.

Mr Browne said that he had nothing to do with these deals and none of them have been signed during his tenure as IAF chief.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/c ... rikar.html
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by SaiK »

Chopper Scam Breakthrough: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Shivani Saxena, director of a Dubai-based company that was allegedly used to route bribe money in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, in what is being seen as a breakthrough in the efforts to identify the recipients of kickbacks. Sources claimed Shivani and her husband Rajeev Shamsher Bahadur Saxena used their companies to route the money which came as kickbacks from Augusta middlemen Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke, besides helping the suspects acquire properties and shares. "She can take us closer to the people who received money for facilitating the sale of AgustaWestland helicopters during the UPA regime,” said a senior ED source.

https://swarajyamag.com/insta/morning-b ... -ruled-out
oh yeah.. and that he/she or the whole of UPA vasis are fools to not to hide, burn and run or even transform themselves. I would have released this information after UPA vasis were apprehended. delay the news, let few months back be today
Philip
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Philip »

This is a very insightful piece with some info not imparted earlier in the media. If accurate,it fills in alot of gaps.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/ ... -sing.html
Bofors: Will the caged parrot sing?
Published Jul 18, 2017, 12:38 am ISTUpdated Jul 18, 2017, 12:39 am IST

The Congress kept sheltering Quattrocchi, and the BJP was more intent on shielding the Hinduja brothers.
Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft (Photo: Youtube screengrab)

Acting on a directive of the Lok Sabha’s Public Accounts Committee, the CBI will now be writing to the government seeking its permission to restart the investigations into the alleged Bofors payoffs. Given this government’s special animosity towards the Nehru-Gandhi family, is there room for any doubt about what its decision will be? By today’s standards, the Bofors deal was really small and the quantum of the alleged kickbacks laughably miniscule. But a quarter of a century ago it was huge. It caused a change of government and possibly set India off in a new direction. In March 1986, a contract worth $285 million, or about Rs 1,600 crores, was entered into between the government of India and Swedish arms company Bofors for the supply of 410 155mm howitzer field guns. By contrast, in September 2016 India signed a deal of about Rs 58,000 crores, or 7.8 billion euros, for 36 off-the-shelf Dassault Rafale twin-engine fighters. Each Rafale will cost about Rs 680 crores and it’s a little over Rs 1600 crores per aircraft for the whole deal. The kickbacks alleged in the Bofors deal were supposed to total `64 crores in all. One can only speculate as to how many Bofors there are in the Rafale deal.

In the late 1970s, Voest Alpine purchased the design for a relatively light and rugged 155 mm howitzer from Gerald Bull, a well-regarded Canadian weapons designer. Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, then fighting a war with Iran, liked the planned 155 mm howitzer and a deal was struck for Voest Alpine to make them. The conservative party led by Kurt Waldheim, which was quite sympathetic to Iraq, then governed Austria. (Waldheim was soon uncovered by the Jewish Documentation Centre of Simon Wiesenthal to be a former Nazi and driven out of office.) But before the conservatives went, 160 Gerald Bull-designed howitzers, the Noricum GHN45 were manufactured and assembled for shipment to Iraq. (Gerald Bull was killed by the Mossad in Brussels in March 1990 as he had begun redesigning Scud missiles for Iraq to make them more accurate and nuclear-capable).

The Iraqi plan came to naught when Bruno Kreisky became Austrian Chancellor. Kreisky came from a prominent Vienna Jewish family and promptly scrapped the deal as it violated Austria’s neutrality laws. Kreisky was also a personal friend of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was instrumental in making the Congress Party a member of the Socialist International, much to the chagrin of George Fernandes’ German SDP friends. Kreisky persuaded Mrs Gandhi to take those 160 guns readied for the Iraqis and help him out. Mrs Gandhi was very obliged to Kreisky for saving her from socialist opprobrium after she had imposed the Emergency. And what are a few guns between friends? The GHN45 howitzers were indeed very good and with base bleed shells had the longest reach of all howitzers available then. They were accurate, rugged and easy to maintain. They came out best in the Indian Army trials supervised by the highly regarded DG Weapons Evaluation, the late Lt Gen. Misbah Mayadass. India would have benefitted greatly by entering into this deal as the Austrian government had also agreed to transfer the manufacturing technology and plant to India. Like in all such deals a small something was also to be made to the Congress Party’s war chest. In 1983, this money was also made over in advance, in anticipation of the formal order and the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

(Mrs Gandhi often made leader-to-leader deals of this kind. In 1970, she bought the Sukhoi-7 fighter-bomber on Leonid Brezhnev’s say, so. The Su-7 proved a great success in 1971.) Kreisky left office in 1983. In 1984, Mrs Gandhi was assassinated and a new chapter began. Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, soon befriended Rajiv Gandhi. Palme had an Indian connection. His aunt Anna Palme was the mother of Rajni Palme Dutt, at one time general secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and a good friend of Mrs Gandhi and Jyoti Basu during their UK days. Palme was a big and respected name in world affairs and had strenuously opposed the US war on Vietnam. He inspired Rajiv Gandhi to take the initiative on nuclear disarmament. The implicit quid pro quo for facilitating Rajiv Gandhi’s easy entry to the global high table was the purchase of the Bofors FH45 howitzer. Palme was also facing a re-election and his party’s coffers needed topping up. The Indian howitzer order would do the trick. The donation by the Bofors Foundation at Karlskrona to the Swedish SDP is proof of this.

The Austrian government then advised the Indian government to have this money returned and close the matter. This was the first time the new Indian Prime Minister heard about it. He was furious. A very powerful minister in his government was summarily sacked. Now a way was sought to set this account right. Bofors was required to close this hole. This was being arranged via a Swiss banker Francis Laffont. The route went like this. Bofors pays Laffont. Laffont pays Voest Alpine, and the money already paid in India stays where it is. In all probability, it was used up in the 1984 elections. Voest Alpine’s representative in New Delhi, a man called Unterweger, was Ottavio Quattrocchi’s neighbour in Delhi. Being expatriate businessmen, they became good friends. It was also well-known that Quattrocchi had easy access to the Prime Minister’s house because of the well-known connection. Quattrocchi was the India representative for Snamprogetti ENI, the Italian government-owned engineering conglomerate, and was no stranger to controversy.

As was the well-established practice then, Unterweger also cut a deal with Quattrocchi. When the Voest Alpine deal collapsed, Quattrocchi was required to close that account, as did the Congress Party. So one more payoff stream was organised by Bofors to Quattrocchi to close this hole. The Quattrocchi method of cutting deals with all competing suppliers is a common practice in India now. Usually the best-suited item is chosen, and it still keeps the system smooth and palms greased. Bribes to be paid in India are also a way of getting money out by foreign executives for themselves. The Hinduja brothers with their Swiss banking expertise take this to the next level.

People like the Hindujas have friends in all parties and many countries. Lest we forget, it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee who wrote to Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao seeking closure of the Bofors case against the Hinduja brothers. And it was Srichand Hinduja who accompanied Brajesh Mishra to his meetings with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and French President Jacques Chirac after the nuclear tests in 1998. The Hindujas also midwifed the Sukhoi deal during P.V. Narasimha Rao’s days. After the Goenka-Gurumurthy conspiracy with President Zail Singh to dismiss Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi lapsed, Bofors became the stick to beat him with. The subsequent behaviour of the successive governments did indicate that while there is something to hide, they were not in agreement on what to hide. The Congress kept sheltering Quattrocchi, and the BJP was more intent on shielding the Hinduja brothers. The fact is that the two roads crisscrossed, and neither the truth prevailed, nor did the law take its course. So will the caged parrot now shred the veils?
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Note:- He carefully does not name Sonia Gandhi. Why?
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Gyan wrote:Note:- He carefully does not name Sonia Gandhi. Why?
If you read his other writings his sympathies seem to lie with the congress. That article is more of an equal equal obfuscation/hitjob than any real insight.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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Quattrochi is named and his closeness to Sonia and Rajiv. In the Chitra Sub /Hindu exposes the H Bros. named in Martin Ardbo's diary as well. What this piece tells us is that it was not just a deal where someone made fast bucks,but transferring the deal from Austria to Sweden meant compensating the Austrians and the methodology of how it was done,people involved,etc. That it was done under Rajiv's reign unquestionable.The assassination of Olaf Palme has remained a mystery and we need to look at this assassination for more insight.

There are sev. conspiracy theories about his murder.Here's the one alleging a link with Bofors.
In his 2005 book Blood on the Snow: The Killing of Olof Palme historian Jan Bondeson advanced a theory that Palme's murder was linked with arms trades to India. Bondeson's book meticulously recreated the assassination and its aftermath, and suggested that Palme had used his friendship with Rajiv Gandhi to secure a SEK 8.4 billion deal for the Swedish armaments company Bofors to supply the Indian Army with howitzers. However, Palme did not know that behind his back Bofors had used a shady company called AE Services — nominally based in Guildford, Surrey, England — to bribe Indian government officials to conclude the deal – the Bofors scandal.

Bondeson alleged that on the morning he was assassinated, Palme had met with the Iraqi ambassador to Sweden, Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf. The two discussed Bofors, which al-Sahhaf knew well because of its arms sales during the Iran–Iraq War. Bondeson suggested that the ambassador had told Palme about Bofors' activities, infuriating Palme. Bondeson theorized that Palme's murder might have been inadvertently triggered by his conversation with the ambassador, if either the Bofors arms dealers or the middlemen working through AE Services had a prearranged plan to silence the Prime Minister should he discover the truth and the deal with India become threatened. According to Bondeson, Swedish police suppressed vital MI6 intelligence about a Bofors/AE Services deal with India.
Going by the earlier article/post,Palme would've definitely known that there had to be a pay-off to the Austrians as compensation,but he may not have known the full details and any other commissions secretly being arranged which he might've been against. In this context,another line involving master-criminal of Europe,the late Licio Gelli of Italy,unavowed right-wing fascist ,with CIA links,virtually untouchable and died a free man despite the enormous criminal allegations against him,allegedly sent this telegram to an associate:“Tell our friend the Swedish palm will be felled”. Therein you have another Italian connection apart from Quattrochi,bum-chum of the Dynasty.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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http://www.firstpost.com/politics/bofor ... 86710.html
Bofors 'Deep Throat' reveals all: How Rajiv protected Quattrocchi
PoliticsFP StaffApr, 24 2012
In April 1987, a secret Swedish source leaked nearly 350 documents to Indian journalist Chitra Subramaniam-Duella. The resulting media expose – based on minutes of meetings, private notes, bank instructions, contracts, and a diary – became the biggest political scandal in modern Indian history, bringing down the Rajiv Gandhi government.

On its 25th anniversary, the Swedish Deep Throat has revealed himself to the Indian media blog, The Hoot.org, in an explosive interview with none other than Subramaniam-Duella. He is Sten Lindstrom, the former head of Swedish police, who led the investigation into the Bofors-India gun deal. [Read the interview here]

Deep Throat reveals that Rajiv Gandhi did not personally take a bribe but allowed a massive cover-up aimed to protecting Ottavio Quattrocchi. KM Kishan/Reuters
So what does he have to say?

For one, Rajiv Gandhi did not personally take a bribe but allowed a massive cover-up aimed to protecting Ottavio Quattrocchi:

There was no evidence that he (Rajiv Gandhi) had received any bribe. But he watched the massive cover-up in India and Sweden and did nothing. Many Indian institutions were tarred, innocent people were punished while the guilty got away. The evidence against Ottavio Quattrocchi was conclusive. Through a front company called A.E. Services, bribes paid by Bofors landed in Quattrocchi’s account which he subsequently cleaned out because India said there was no evidence linking him to the Bofors deal. Nobody in Sweden or Switzerland was allowed to interrogate him.
And in the pecking order of protection, Quattrocchi merited greater protection than even Rajiv Gandhi's relative Arun Nehru: "He [Managing Director of Bofors Martin Ardbo] had written in his notes that the identity of N (Nehru) becoming public was a minor concern but at no cost could the identity of Q (Quattrocchi) be revealed because of his closeness to R (Rajiv Gandhi). "

The Quattrocchi-Gandhi link is also up-front and centre: "[Ardbo] had also mentioned a meeting between an A.E. Services official and a Gandhi trustee lawyer in Geneva. This was a political payment. These payments are made when the deal has to be inked and all the numbers are on the table." A.E. Services was a front company used to facilitate the transfer of money from Bofors to Quattrocchi.

So determined was the Indian government to cover up the scandal that when Bofors officials arrived in India with a list of names, "nobody of any consequence received them." And yet even the VP Singh administration, which was voted to power in late 1989 on an anti-corruption platform, does not come out looking any better. :rotfl: According to Lindstrom, only one team of Indian investigators met with the Swedish team even after VP Singh took power, and their primary aim was to force him to link the Bachchans to the kickbacks. When he refused to do so, they planted a story in a leading Swedish newspaper instead – for which the paper was successfully sued by the Bachchans.

In fact, Rajiv's fall from power did little to improve the efforts of Indian investigative agencies:

Whenever the public prosecutor Ekblom and I heard of any Indian visits to Stockholm, we would speak to the media expressing our desire to meet them. Can you imagine a situation where no one from India met the real investigators of the gun deal? That was when we saw the extent to which everyone was compromised. Many politicians who had come to my office claiming they would move heaven and earth to get at the truth if they came to power, fell silent when they held very important positions directly linked to the deal.
Lindstrom's lesson in Indian politics rings truer than ever 25 years later.

Read his interview in its entirety on The Hoot website.
What comes out from the various exposes is that Mr.Q was a fixer par-excellence,using his proximity to the Dynasty-the "Italian Connection",He used this bum-chumming even to holiday with the ruling familia and we know little of the other deals that he may have been involved with,Bofors perhaps only the tip of the iceberg. The hunt for Mr.Q by Indian investigating agencies ,who allowed him to die a free man,would've made a fabulous Inspector Clouseau Pink Panther genre film.Perhaps one day Bollywood will do so.It could even star Big B (with a lot of make-up) as himself!
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Here is a translation of an account in Italian .More details from the Italian perspective.
International intrigue PDF Print E-mail
news - Interiors and chronicle
Thursday 19 January 2006 01:00
by about 20 years India follows the anxious developments of the most resounding political scandal-financial of its history, the case of Bofors, and which has among its main protagonists in an Italian: Ottavio Quattrocchi.

Ottavio QuattrocchiC is an interesting story that invades in these days, and periodically from about twenty years, the first pages of the newspapers in India: the scandal of Bofors, tangents which were paid by the war industry Swedish Bofors AB, the collusion of the Central Indian Government and Swedish and lately the unblocking of the accounts deposited in tax haven of an islet of the sleeve and frozen since 2003, of which is the owner a our fellow countryman, Ottavio Quattrocchi, that the scandal was a key figure.

The scandal of Bofors shook the India of the 1980s, involving many politicians, first among all Rajiv Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi and the Indian Prime Minister after the death of his mother. The ruling class was then accused of having received from the swedish Bofors AB tremendous bribes on purchasing howitzers from field from 155 mm. The complaint he departed from Swedish Radio, which revealed that the Bofors - today purchased and dismembered by Saab and known with the name Kartongen Kemi Ochi Forvaltning AB - had paid over 50 million dollars in bribes to ensure the sale to India; the value of the transaction, 1, 4 billion dollars. The scandal has assumed such proportions as to cause the defeat in elections that followed, in November 1989, of the Congress Party, headed by Rajiv. The credibiltà Rajiv Gandhi, whose nickname was until then Mr. Clean, Mr "clean" came out in fact seriously affected.

After the electoral defeat, security measures against him were loose and Rajiv was assassinated in 1991 with an attack carried out by the Tamil Tigers, the separatists Tamils in Sri Lanka. However, at the beginning of 2004 the Supreme Court of India scagionò totally and clamorously the deceased Rajiv by accusations of bribes precedentmenete spoke, despite the fact that the weapons purchased from Bofors were then found to be defective and extremely more costly for the Indian Government, with respect to those proposed by other competitors but discarded.

India was engaged at the time in a race to rearmament, aimed at countering the supplies of weapons that the United States proporzionavano the enemy and neighboring Pakistan. Rajiv met precisely in those days Olof Palme, beloved Swedish Prime Minister, who got rapidly the contract for the Bofors, in large financial difficulties, against the technical opinion of the senior indian military. Even Palms will then be assassinated in circumstances still mysterious. Among the various theories on his assassination, a port to P2 of Licio Gelli and the involvement of the illegal masonic lodge in the illegal trafficking of weapons during the war Iran - Iraq.

Among other suspected of having pocketed at the time the tangents from the Swedish company was immediately indicated a certain Ottavio Quattrocchi: these was the representative of Snamprogetti, ENI, for India and then for the Asian region as a whole in the last 16 years of his stay in the East, during which he won contracts for Snamprogetti to approximately 300 billion dollars. :eek: Its connection with the scandal is due to its close proximity to the family of Rajiv Gandhi and his today widow Sonia Maino Gandhi, Italian, currently president of the Congress Party. You commented that the friendship of Quattrocchi with the Indian Prime Minister was such as to make him get the immediate lifting of any official is opposed or intralciasse its financial projects and that the sons of Sonia and Rajiv were entrusted to his family when the couple left India for institutional reasons.

The CBI, Central Bureau of Investigation Indian, accused in 1993 Quattrocchi and his wife Maria have received 7 million dollars of bribes from Bofors for having convinced his friend Rajiv for the purchase of weapons in Sweden. Narasimha Rao, of the Congress Party, presided over then the Indian Government and no order to arrest was keen for the Italian, despite repeated parliamentary questions posed by the opposition, thereby allowing the Quattrocchi to leave the country. They sought refuge and then in Malaysia, where he could enjoy immunity.

he CBI, Central Bureau of Investigation Indian, accused in 1993 Quattrocchi and his wife Maria have received 7 million dollars of bribes from Bofors for having convinced his friend Rajiv for the purchase of weapons in Sweden. Narasimha Rao, of the Congress Party, presided over then the Indian Government and no order to arrest was keen for the Italian, despite repeated parliamentary questions posed by the opposition, thereby allowing the Quattrocchi to leave the country. They sought refuge and then in Malaysia, where he could enjoy immunity until 2003, when the Indian government managed to obtain the extradition by the local authorities in order to process the italian. The Order to consign the passport but came two days after that Quattrocchi had already returned to Italy where he has since lived apparently undisturbed in Milan, while on the other hand being sought by Interpol.

Since 2003 the bank accounts of Quattrocchi kept on the island in the sleeve of Guernsey, tax haven, suspected to contain the amount of those bribes, were frozen. The denier there were reached after the usual complex steps between company ghost, numbered accounts in Switzerland and in Panama. This week I have however been unlocked by the UK authorities, apparently at the request of the Indian Government for lack of evidence, despite the indications of the Indian Supreme Court in this regard were instead those of maintaining the status quo. The entire legal procedure must therefore now be repeated to obtain a new block of Auditors but, in the meantime, Quattrocchi li may freely drain. The Indian opposition obviously asks the head of the current Minister of Justice, Bharadvaj, and indirectly that of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in addition to that of Sonia Gandhi, who however compact declines every responsibility in what happened. No guilty party today, no tangent then.

Quattrocchi meanwhile is to know that the case does not exist and that this is only a twenty-year political fury against the family Gandhi. Representatives of the CBI could still go soon in Italy to interrogate the man, according to the latest statements.

The story in the historical archive of the Corriere della Sera, edition of 25 February 1994

Updates:

27 February 2007:

"Sonia Gandhi is a thief": Italian connection to New Delhi, R. Bultrini

9 June 2007:

Denied the extradition from Argentina to India for Quattrocchi

29 April 2009:

the CBI asks the Interpol to withdraw the alert status in respect of Quattrocchi

13 July 2013:

Ottavio Quattrocchi died today in Milan for cardiac arrest.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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X-Posting to the correct thread....
Philip wrote:AW case thrown out by Italian Supreme Court! Italian SC says no case against the two CEOs of Finnmeccanica who have been released.

ACM Tyagi and his brother stand accused in India based upon the Italian original investigation, out on bail awaiting the next hearing in May , so what gives now? The Italian fiasco now surely will explode the case against the Indian accused as neither Spagnolini or Orsi are now guilty!
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In the aftermath of the Italian SC verdict,acquitting the accused two CEOs of Finnmecc.,with some details of alleged forged docs. bearing signatures of one of the accused,the case against the Indian accused will now be very weak.This beggars the Q whether there was any scam in the first place at all.

What we do know is that AKA ,DM at the time,was rudely awakened from his slumbur upon hearing of the AW scam that had broken out in the open in Italy,with allegations of pay-offs to highly placed Indian individuals,including the then CoAS,ACM Tyagi. The deal was immediately cancelled as the Oppn. was baying for Cong./UPA blood given the numerous other scams being exposed,never before seen in Indian political history. Did AKA jump the gun in fear of another scam sinking the govt.? Given the then conviction by the same court that has now released them,the GOI of the day had no alternative but to prosecute the Indian individuals who featured in the Italian case allegedly the bribetakers. The CBI then like Inspector Clouseau travelled across many countries trying to "follow the money". But it now appears that no money was ever given by Finnmecc. to anyone! So if there was indeed some moolah given,from which slush fund did it come? It is arguably possible that the money allegedly given to the corrupt officials and agents/arms dealers,came from another secret slush fund outside the Finnmecc. group. This way there would be absolutely no trace of any bribe being given by the OEM should a controversy arise and inquiry ordered.

However,regardless of whether money was paid or not and whether the CBI acted like Clouseau or were spot on regarding the alleged pay-offs,the singular fact remains that the GOI negotiated with Finnmecc.'s helo division the sale of VVIP helos at a price far in excess of what the O'Bomber admin rejected as being too costly! The White House required only 6 VVIP helos for "Marine Corps 1",while India wanted 12 ,double that number for the precious backsides of our exalted VVIPs! This was never brought up by our Oppn. in parliament at the time of contract.I did mention it at the time in a post how could we afford such a deal.Even if the case against the accused is now thrown out,the NDA-2 should labour this point,so that at least it can be proven that the GOI of the day and its DM,AKA, were simply incompetent and profligate in first going through with such an abominably expensive deal in the first place. Russian VVIP versions of their workhorse MI-17Vs are now serving the task at much cheaper cost too.

PS:In passing,one must also bring to note the allegations made by the Cong. about the Rafale deal for 36 aircraft,allegedly bought at higher prices than originally negotiated by the then UPA govt.,which included TOT,and the fact that Mr.A was in Paris when the deal was struck. In the original deal too,Mr. A. signed on with a deal with Dassault .allegedly almost immediately after the winner was announced.

In the ultimate analysis,unless there is greater transparency in defence deals,allegations will always be there,perhaps even "fake news" exposures by disgruntled rival entities-and it has allegedly happened in the past,we will flounder and flounder whenever defence deals are to take place,leading to enormous delays and difficulties for the 3 services to keep their weapons,hardware and human resources intact in good working order and to acquire new weaponry whenever exg. weapon systems have lost their usefulness.The MCM cancellation is case in point.
Last edited by Philip on 09 Jan 2018 12:33, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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often the case is like aarushi murder case... we know murder happened but not 100% sure who was the murderer !! same with 2G scam accquitals... we know scam happened but who did it ?
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Philip, Regarding 4chhi, other projects were chemical plants by Snam Progetti. All had scam funds.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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Yes,Mr.Q was a real wheeler-dealer who either used his "familia" contacts beautifully,or was hand-in-glove with them.No Q about that!
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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Today brings good news that Christian Michel the arms dealer from August will be extradited to India from UAE.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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December 4th brings good news that Christian Michel was brought to New Delhi after so many days of hearings and drama in UAE.
The small picture is the corrupt gang involved in the Augusta Westland Helicopter scam will be brought to court.
The big picture is the UK arms peddlers lobby in India, which is in existence since 1948 got a big blow.

Please add updates and follow the news.

This is a big day for India.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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A lot of turmoil in Delhi power broker circles as Michel is in CBI custody.

Politicians, babus, and military and arms agents all wary.

TOI has an article detailing his partner Guido Haschke confession of the acronyms used.

Then there is the concern that its not an one off case but systemic culture of corruption.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 957908.cms

Christian Michel’s Extradition: CBI Could Shift Focus from Tyagi to Bigger Players
December 6, 2018

The CBI getting custody of British National Christian Michel who lobbied for arms contracts for 25 years in India is bound to create a sense of unease among the alleged ‘beneficiaries’ in the defence ministry who were mentioned in his 2008 handwritten note.

Michel’s extradition also shifts the focus from former IAF chief SP Tyagi to bigger players who were instrumental in swinging the Rs 3727 crore deal in favour of Anglo Italian firm Augusta Westland.

According to Michel’s alleged bribery note, which is part of Italian court judgement Euro 30 Million were to be distributed among Indian bureaucrats, politicians, and Air Force officials.

Titled budget expenditure note, prepared some time in 2008 at Michel’s London office, used abbreviations of designations like DCH, PDSR, DG Maintt, and FTT under the head AF (Air Force). Under the head BUR, it had entries like DS, JS Air, AFA Air, DG Acq, CVC, and Auditor Gen and under the head POL it had AP. The note had a separate entry Fam, believed to be SP Tyagi’s family – his three cousins Sanjeev, Rajiv, and Sandeep.

It mentioned that Euro 6 Million were for AF (Air Force), Euro 8.4 Million for BUR, Euro 3 Million for AP and Euro 15-16 Million for Fam.

Michel’s close aide Guido Haschke, who the confirmed the contents of the note to Italian investigators had claimed in court in Milan – “Michel pointed (to) me in this document what he said was his ‘budget’ for this operation, that is, the expenses that he would have incurred for this operation (chopper deal).”

Haschke explained that AF meant ‘Air Force’, PDSR meant ‘Principal Director Air Staff’, FTT meant ‘Flight Train Team’, DG Maintt meant ‘DG Maintenance’, CVC meant Central Vigilance Committee (incorrectly used for Central Vigilance Commission), DG Acq meant Director General Acquisition, JS Air meant ‘Joint Secretary Air’, FM meant ‘Tyagi family’ and AP corresponded to ‘Ahmed Patel’ (Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s key aide).

The Italian court judgment in the case said that Haschke admitted to these expenses incurred by Michel on the Indian military, bureaucracy, and politics.

CBI sources said they will question Michel’s driven in India for four years – Narayan Bahadur – who allegedly took money to some individuals in India and even received money via wire transfers.

Narayan, sources say, will be confronted with Michel for details of people he visited in Delhi.

CBI has claimed in its charge sheet filed in September last year that while final negotiations were under way in ministry of defence and Indian Air Force for supply of 12 VVIP choppers, Michel visited India on more than 25 occasions and had stayed in different hotels – Hotel Ashoka and Claridges at New Delhi and Hotel ITC Windsor – in Bengaluru.

Sources have informed TOI that Michel used to visit India frequently. According to the investigators, it is suspected that Michel visited India around 100 times since 1993 and had links in defence ministry and political circles.

CBI has claimed that Michel was in possession of secret defence ministry files, including those of cabinet committee on security (CCS), when Agusta Westland’s case was being pushed by the IAF.

The central probe agency claims that it was Christian Michel who played a crucial role in eliminating M/s Sikorsky rom the competition to get contract for supply of VVIP choppers.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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Typed out the text. Everyone mentioned including AP as in the 2016 note here. Sincerely hope this does end up in prosecution of all involved. No wonder the import lobby has held out for so long.
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Thanks.
There a few more on the periphery and will be named.
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The problem is that the evidence is at best circumstantial and Michel could brave it out by pleading not guilty, but it is good to see the luminaries of the upa coming out in support of him.
A lot of these commissions and back-handers from weapons procurement are used to fund the congress eco system
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Karan M »

i hope this actually leads to something and the BJP does not use it as usual for some back room ploy and then drop the prosecution in a fit of ham-handed graciousness and megalomania
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