The arrest of Giuseppe Orsi, the chief executive of Italy’s largest aerospace group Finmeccanica in Italy as part of an investigation into alleged corruption in international defence deals has once again put the focus back on yet another case of corruption in India’s defence procurement. According to media reports, the arrested CEO is alleged to have paid $670 million crores) in bribes for the sale of 12 AgustaWestland helicopters to India. However, both the company
and the arrested CEO have denied paying any bribes. Earlier reports had indicated the possible involvement of a Swiss-based consultant in this murky deal. A scam possibility cannot entirely be ruled out since defence procurement involves huge sums and deals are non-transparent and dilatory. The controversial deal was signed in February 2010 for the purchase of a dozen AW101 helicopters for the use of India’s President, Prime Minister and other dignitaries. Though a section of the media, quoting an Italian inquiry report, has hinted at the involvement of a former Air Force Chief, the latter has denied any wrongdoing and Defence Minister A K Antony says he would rather wait for the probe report. Though he had known as early as April 2012 that there were serious allegations of corruption in the procurement of these helicopters, he had, at that time, said he would ‘seriously’ pursue the inquiry. The issue again came up on the sidelines of the meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in October 2012. At that time also the Ministry of Defence said it had once again taken up the matter with the Italian government to provide details of the existence of any middlemen or any individual or Indian entity in the contract for helicopters. The name of a serving Brigadier of Indian army also was mentioned for his suspected involvement in the deal. Ironically, in the same meeting Antony asked the three services to adopt fair and transparent manners while carrying out procurements.