VVIP chopper scam a repeat of Bofors, will raise in parliament: BJP

BJP has lashed out at Sonia Gandhi over reports of alleged middlemen targeting her to clinch the Agusta Westland deal.

Leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley was quick to label the news reports as reminiscent of the Bofors scam which unseated the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1989. "The Augusta Westland chopper deal appears to be a repeat of the Bofors scam - middlemen, diary entries, pay offs and Italian connections," he said.

Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha too said much the same. "This is a repeat of Bofors and we will raise the issue strongly in Parliament," he said. The documents revealed during the course of the investigation, he says demonstrates that there is "clinching evidence that the deal was intended for making money."

According to a document submitted in Italian court, one of the alleged middlemen in the VVIP chopper scam had asked a contact in India to target Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the then NSA MK Narayanan to bag the deal.

It has come to light that Christian Michel- alleged to be the main middleman - had sent a fax to one of his contacts, who was allegedly working with AgustaWestland’s India office, in this regard, official sources said .