advertisement
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politically attacked Congress president Sonia Gandhi with the AgustaWestland chopper deal. Sonia Gandhi, however, dared the furore caused by newly appointed Rajya Sabha member from BJP, Subramanian Swamy as he sparked the topic in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Calling it attempts at character assassination, Gandhi rejected as “baseless” allegations linking her and party leaders to bribes in the AgustaWestland chopper deal.
Sonia Gandhi in response to the allegations, which she claimed are false, questioned the inaction in the matter for the two years since the establishment of new government. She said:
Referring to the two-year-old Modi government, Gandhi demanded the enquiry in the matter to be completed.
Contrary to Sonia Gandhi’s claims, however, the matter was being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The ED found out that a man named Christian Michel (51) who helped Finmeccanica executives to secure the VVIP chopper deal worth Rs 3,600 crore, was paid a kickback of 26 million Pounds.
The investigation in March 2015 revealed that a travel agent named Ramesh Kumar Nanda was responsible for Michel’s handling in India.
Also read: VVIP Chopper Deal: AgustaWestland Kingpin Identified as Christian Michel
An Italian court had also written to the UPS-led government of India for not sharing relevant documents with investigators in Italy, according to The Economic Times.
The Italian counterpart of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also had tried to contact the Indian government.
The Italian court mentioned a handwritten note recovered in March 2013 from former Finmeccanica head Giuseppe Orsi’s prison cell.
Terracciano was diplomatic advisor to then Italian PM at the time.
Gandhi’s political secretary and senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel also rubbished the allegations against him and the party as “absolutely baseless.”
“If there is something against me, they should find out and they should hang me,” he said when asked by reporters for his reactions over the allegations.
It is believed that this is an attempt by the government to cripple the Congress’ protest in the Rajya Sabha against the President rule in its stronghold state – Uttarakhand. Rajya Sabha was dysfunctional for the first two days of the second part of the budget session.
Also read:
Uttarakhand Political Crisis Stalls Rajya Sabha Proceedings
No Floor Test in Uttarakhand Assembly on 29 April
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Published: undefined