Bhushan stated that Chattisgarh government bought this helicopter for $5.1 mn and paid 30% of its cost as commission

Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav addressing a press conference regarding AgustaWestland scam, in New Delhi

Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav addressing a press conference regarding AgustaWestland scam, in New Delhi

Seeking to drag the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) into the AgustaWestland helicopter scam, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Prashant Bhushan demanded the Narendra Modi government probe Chattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh’s government over a “sham” deal for which kickbacks of $1.57 million were allegedly paid.

Producing invoices and documents, Bhushan said the Chattisgarh government had bought an AgustaWestland helicopter for $5.1 million and paid 30 per cent of its cost as commission, and even when  former bureaucrat E A S Sarma highlighted it in 2015, no investigation was launched.

Bhushan said the government had been stalling probe into the deal and into the foreign bank accounts held by Raman Singh’s son Abhishek in the British Virgin Islands, part of a volcanic archipelago in the Caribbean, and a British territory.

Addressing a conference along with Yogendra Yadav under the banner of Swaraj Abhiyan, the activists who were AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) members, demanded that just as actively as the Centre was probing the AgustaWestland helicopter deal during the UPA (United Progressive Alliance)  regime at the Centre against “signora (the Italian-language version of Mrs)” (Sonia Gandhi), it should launch a probe monitored by a retired apex court judge into Raman Singh’s government’s deal. Bhushan re-iterated the scam had already been highlighted in the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) report of 2011.

“A single vendor situation was termed as a global tender, where the only product was an AW109 AgustaWestland and the three vendors were AgustaWestland from Italy, its distributor Sharp Ocean based in British Virgin Islands and OSS, its service provider,” said Bhushan.

Yogendra Yadav accused the Raman Singh government of engaging with a “shady dealer” who first opted to sell the helicopter to the state government at $ 6.31 million and then backtracks on it, after which the Chattisgarh government goes through a “charade” of a global tender.

Bhushan highlighted how a tripartite agreement was signed by industrialist Cyrus Poonawalla’s company Serum Institute, which gave up its rights to the helicopter (which it had pre-booked) that was now being sold to the Chattisgarh government.

The detailed papers and documents have been unearthed by SwarajAbhiyan and RTI activists Ajit Anand Digwekar and Rakesh Chaube.http://www.business-standard.com/article/politics/probe-raman-singh-govt-on-sham-deal-to-buy-agusta-helicopter-prashant-bhushan-116051201136_1.html