Express News Service
NEW DELHI: A deal to procure Advance Jet Trainer aircraft for India is in the eye of a storm with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing an FIR naming British aerospace and defence firms Rolls-Royce and British Aerospace Systems for corruption.
Senior executives of the two companies and Indian government officials have been named for criminal conspiracy and corruption in the procurement of the Hawk 115 advanced trainer aircraft in 2004.
In the FIR, filed on May 23, the agency has named Rolls-Royce PLC; Tim Jones, former director of Rolls Royce India Pvt Ltd; British Aerospace Systems; arms dealer Sudhir Choudhrie and his son Bhanu Choudhrie; and other officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, for conspiring together to cheat the Indian government in the trainer jet aircraft purchase deal.
According to the FIR the accused, in a criminal conspiracy with the then public servants, abused their official positions to approve and procure 24 Hawk 115 Advance Jet Trainer aircraft for GBP 734.21 million, which were supposed to be delivered to India in flyaway condition, besides permitting India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to manufacture 42 additional aircraft through technology transfer for an additional amount of USD 308.247 million and getting the Manufacturer’s Licence Fee increased from GBP 4 million to 7.5 million, by “paying huge bribes, commissions and kickbacks to intermediaries”, despite the fact that the agreements pertaining to the deal prohibited payments to intermediaries and middlemen.
The investigation unearthed that in 2008-10, in the wake of the criminal conspiracy, the accused also approved the licence manufacturing of 57 additional Hawk aircraft by HAL for a value of Rs 9,502 crore under a separate agreement with BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd, another entity belonging to the BAES Group, the CBI FIR alleged.
According to the CBI finding the the Cabinet Committee on Security, Ministry of Defence in a meeting held on September 3, 2003, approved the procurement of 66 Hawk 115 Aircraft and the signing of an inter-government agreement.
NEW DELHI: A deal to procure Advance Jet Trainer aircraft for India is in the eye of a storm with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing an FIR naming British aerospace and defence firms Rolls-Royce and British Aerospace Systems for corruption.
Senior executives of the two companies and Indian government officials have been named for criminal conspiracy and corruption in the procurement of the Hawk 115 advanced trainer aircraft in 2004.
In the FIR, filed on May 23, the agency has named Rolls-Royce PLC; Tim Jones, former director of Rolls Royce India Pvt Ltd; British Aerospace Systems; arms dealer Sudhir Choudhrie and his son Bhanu Choudhrie; and other officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, for conspiring together to cheat the Indian government in the trainer jet aircraft purchase deal.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
According to the FIR the accused, in a criminal conspiracy with the then public servants, abused their official positions to approve and procure 24 Hawk 115 Advance Jet Trainer aircraft for GBP 734.21 million, which were supposed to be delivered to India in flyaway condition, besides permitting India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to manufacture 42 additional aircraft through technology transfer for an additional amount of USD 308.247 million and getting the Manufacturer’s Licence Fee increased from GBP 4 million to 7.5 million, by “paying huge bribes, commissions and kickbacks to intermediaries”, despite the fact that the agreements pertaining to the deal prohibited payments to intermediaries and middlemen.
The investigation unearthed that in 2008-10, in the wake of the criminal conspiracy, the accused also approved the licence manufacturing of 57 additional Hawk aircraft by HAL for a value of Rs 9,502 crore under a separate agreement with BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd, another entity belonging to the BAES Group, the CBI FIR alleged.
According to the CBI finding the the Cabinet Committee on Security, Ministry of Defence in a meeting held on September 3, 2003, approved the procurement of 66 Hawk 115 Aircraft and the signing of an inter-government agreement.
