Will place all facts on chopper deal before Parliament on May 4: Parrikar

PANJIM: Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday said he would place all the facts along with a chronology on the controversial VVIP chopper deal before the Parliament on Wednesday, May 4. 

Parrikar also questioned the failure of the then UPA government to blacklist the Anglo-Italian helicopter maker AgustaWestland in connection with the VVIP chopper scam. 

“I will place a detailed chronology of the events giving the facts about the chopper deal before the Parliament on Wednesday. I will place the detailed chronology, giving how and when necessary clauses or provisions were relaxed to suit the company,” Parrikar told reporters in Panjim at the sidelines of a function.

Parrikar said, “Those who received kickbacks will not leave behind the proof for us to prosecute them, but we will have to prove it (that kickbacks were received).”

“It is for us to prove everything now…since the issue would be placed in the Parliament, I would not like to speak in detail to the media,” he said. 

“Why no action was taken against the company till 2014? Why was the company not blacklisted by then UPA government?” Parrikar questioned.

“I challenge the Congress government to show the UPA government’s order blacklisting the AgustaWestland Company. Let them reply first why it was not banned. It was during my government that we banned it,” the defence minister added. 

The BJP has accused that the then defence minister A K Antony of accepting bribes from Italian company Finmeccanica. The matter came to light when an Italian court observed that “corruption took place” in the dealings between Italian firm Finmeccanica and the erstwhile Indian government.

The Rs 3,600 crore deal was inked in the year 2010, when the UPA government decided to buy 12 VVIP choppers from Italian firm Finmeccanica. However, when allegations of corruption propped up, the Defence Ministry decided to cancel the deal in 2013.