Manohar Parrikar: Will do in Agusta what we could not in Bofors

Launching a full-blown attack on the Congress, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said in Parlia-ment Friday that “big names” who got kickbacks in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal have to be identified so that “what could not be done in the Bofors case can be done now”.

In his typical acerbic style, without mentioning names, the minister said in the Lok Sabha, replying to a call attention motion on the helicopter deal, that “Tyagi, Khaitan are small people... we have to find the big names who had received the kickbacks”. Hitting out at the Congress, he said the main beneficiaries of the deal will be tracked so that “maybe we can do” what “we could not do in Bofors”.

Mr Parrikar said the “entire corruption” in the deal took place during UPA rule and former Air Chief S.P. Tyagi and Gautam Khaitan were “small people” who “simply washed their hands in a flowing Ganga (of corruption)” and that the government will “find out where the river was flowing”. He said while the decision on the contract was taken in 2010, Air Chief Marshal Tyagi retired in 2007 and “might have got just some chillar (loose change)”.

As Congress members walked out when the defence minister started giving his reply to the motion, while seeking a Supreme Court-monitored probe, he said the CBI was “very seriously” investigating the case. He said the UPA government had “done everything” to help AgustaWestland bag the `3,600-crore deal for purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters and its action against the company after corruption was revealed was not proactive but “forced by circumstances”. He said the government will recover the 398 million euros paid as well as the “bribe”.

Referring to the Italian court’s recent order, Mr Parrikar said with this, the criminal conspiracy was established and “we will get the documents very fast”.

Alleging that the Congress had close links with Christian Michel, a middleman in the deal, he said the contract was given to a company that had not even participated in the tendering process.

As the Congress started an uproar and tried to disrupt his speech, the minister remarked: “Why are you (Congress) concerned I have not named anybody. You seem to know where the Ganga was going.”

“An investigation is under way with regard to those who washed hands in the flowing Ganga. Those who wash hands in the Ganga have an idea about the temperature of the water, how fast the water is flowing. Based on that, we are assessing whether the water was cold or hot, whether the water had Hindi, English, Italian or German and what was the issue,” the defence minister quipped amid laughter from the treasury benches.

Refusing to spell out what the CBI probe had revealed, the minister told the House: “I can assure you that I will not disappoint you.” He said he had started personally “monitoring” the probe even though the CBI and ED are not under him.

Noting the scam had surfaced in 2012, the minister said nothing was done by the UPA government till January 2014. Describing former defence minister A.K. Antony as “bechara” (helpless), Mr Parrikar claimed his (Antony’s) “hands were tied” and he took no action as he “feared that his sainthood would be disrobed”. He said Mr Antony acted only after a top official of Finmeccanica, the parent company of AgustaWestland, was arrested in Italy over the bribery in the deal.

Responding to Congress claims that the Italian judge had said there was no evidence against Sonia Gandhi, Mr Parrikar said it was “half-truth” as the judge had said it was for India to investigate and for its investigating agencies to “prove the guilt of people who are suspected”.

On the Congress charge that the Modi government had allowed an AgustaWestland affiliate to participate in another tender despite the company being blacklisted, the defence minister said the firm had only put on its website its Request for Information, which anybody could do in a digital world.

Suggesting conspiracy to remove evidence in the deal, Mr Parrikar referred to a “mysterious” fire on July 3, 2014 at the Air Force headquarters here and said he would ask the CBI to probe that incident. He said all files were burnt in that fire but luckily three files on the AgustaWestland deal were saved as those were kept by an official in his locked drawer.

“One good point is (that) everyone agreed that corruption had taken place. It is clear that money has been paid to someone on the other side,” the minister said, pointing to the Congress benches.

Mr Parrikar said all corruption in arms deals took place in the UPA’s tenure, and added he was proud to say there was not a single such allegation against the present NDA government.