Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Italy for the G-7 summit was his first foreign trip in his third term and his fifth event to attend a Group of Seven (G-7) meeting. However, his warm welcome in Italy irked many, especially the Congress party, as it kept questioning the purpose behind PM Modi’s Italy visit. Sources say that the reason for Congress’s displeasure could be the ‘fear’ of the AgustaWestland scam (VVIP chopper scam) which is troubling it, especially at a time when it is celebrating the party’s success in the Lok Sabha elections.
Italy handed over sealed documents to India
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also questioned, ‘why was Congress constantly complaining about PM Modi’s Italy visit for G-7 summit’ and also shared details of what is ‘worrying and troubling’ the grand old party. A leading international daily, citing sources, claimed that Italy has shared its court’s detailed 225-page judgement on AgustaWestland chopper scam and some documents related to the bribery scandal with India. It is clear that these documents can turn the whole game around and high profile politicians and middlemen in India can be punished for their crime.
It also claimed that the investigation and prosecution in this VVIP chopper scam may gain momentum after PM Modi returns from his recent visit to Italy.
Many faces of UPA-2 may be exposed
Let us tell you that on 26 May 2014, about 8 months before Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India for the first time, an Italian court had given a verdict convicting four people including the CEO of a high profile company, the chairman of an Italian defense company and two middlemen in one of the biggest bribery scandals involving India. But, the full statements of the accused recorded in the court there in this case, the complete account of the appeals and the final decision of the court were never made public by the then Italian government in 2013 under pressure from India, as this could have caused an earthquake in the political and bureaucratic establishments of India.
The revelations made through these documents would have revealed the full names of prominent Indian political families and middlemen who received bribes worth more than Rs 600 crore in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. The names of those who received bribes in India in this case were sealed in Italian court documents.
12 VVIP helicopters were purchased for Rs 3,600 crore
The chopper scam may not have reached its conclusion in India, but the Italian court has convicted those who paid bribes to their Indian counterparts. Now, it is being reported that the sealed Italian documents handed over to India by Italy also contain the names of those who received bribes in the defence scam. This is sure to ring alarm bells for those in power during UPA-2 and one of the biggest defence scams, which remained buried for a decade, now looks set to come out in the open.
Notably, the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam is a corruption case of the UPA-2 regime in which middlemen and perhaps even politicians were bribed after India struck a deal to buy 12 VVIP choppers from Italian defence manufacturing giant Finmeccanica at an estimated cost of Rs 3,600 crore. (With IANS inputs)
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