AgustaWestland deal: Defence Ministry gets important documents from Italy

NEW DELHI: Law authorities in Italy are understood to have allowed Defence Ministry to use the documents supplied by them in the legal process here against the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland chopper deal, which is facing cancellation.

In the investigations in the ongoing chopper scam probe, Defence Ministry has received several important documents from Italy which were received by the then Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager (Air) Arun Kumar Bal, who passed away recently.

The Italian law authorities are understood to have allowed the Defence Ministry to use the documents provided by them in the ongoing legal process here, sources said here.

The permission in this regard was given by the Italian authorities during the last hearing of the case in Milan,Italy where the officer in-charge for AgustaWestland case in India Upamanyu Chatterjee was present, they said.

The officer is now back in Italy for the important hearings this week in the case against the alleged middleman Guido Haschke there.

Italy is carrying out a separate investigation in the case.

Facing threat of cancellation of its deal, AgustaWestland had invoked the arbitration clause in the contract for supplying 12 VVIP choppers to the Air Force and nominated Srikrishna on its behalf.

A team of its officials had also met Defence Ministry officials to present its case in the chopper scam and denied any wrongdoing on its behalf.

The Defence Ministry has taken a stand against arbitration clause saying it does not apply to the pre-contract integrity pact which is signed by the ministry with its vendors.

Antony has already asserted that the firm had violated contractual obligations, for which the government had initiated action against it.