Clarke Posted February 15, 2013 Posted February 15, 2013 They (OFB) had the design /material specs of bofors lying in some file for 24 years (that they stumbled upon last year). :whack: Yea, i read somewhere they're 'trying' to make howitzers from that, what an achievement that shall be in copy pasting a 3 decade old tech :cantstop:
CG Posted February 18, 2013 Posted February 18, 2013 CBI As Expected Goes Slow New Delhi: Christian Michel is allegedly the most important link in the tainted AgustaWestland chopper deal. According to the Italian probe report, he was the beneficiary of 60 per cent of Rs 350 crore kickbacks, which means he got Rs 210 crore. He was the one who, according to the Italian probe report, was the second track organised by Finmeccanica ex-CEO Giuseppe Orsi to ensure that the company gets the deal for VVIP choppers. But while the Italians did manage to tap phones and record conversations of other accused middlemen like Guido Ralph Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, there is absolutely no information on Michel, other than what the accused themselves state. Listed below is a record of a conversation between Lorenzo, who was the head of external affairs for Finmeccanica and the public prosecutor in the case. It sheds some light on Michel and his role. Lorenzo: "He has done his work and that other, Christian Michel was the one who was put there by Orsi as a guarantee. He says: Look, 50 goes to you and 50 goes to him." Video Photo Gallery Italian probe reports say that Michel got 60 per cent of the Rs 350 crore kickbacks. However, he has not been questioned even once. Public Minister: "Briefly, the money goes out from Agusta and goes to Orsi? It goes to Haschke and goes to Michel, from Michel it goes to Orsi?" Lorenzo: "From Michel, it goes to Orsi but it doesn't stop with Orsi, from Orsi the money goes to political parties that supported him." The big questions: - Was Christian Michel sharing his kickbacks with Finmeccannica CEO Orsi? - Was Christian Michel the front for Finmeccanica to pay off politicians in Italy? - How is it that the Italian authorities questioned everyone, but didn't even ask for interrogation of Christian Michel, if he was the beneficiary of 60 per cent kickbacks? More strangely, on the Registrar of Companies (RoC) website in India, there is one Christian Michel, with a DIN number 02657302 whose date of birth is mentioned as December 12, 1961. But any further information is blocked. But the business empire of Christian Michel appears to be a maze. According to the Italian probe report, Christian Michel controls a company called Global FZE. This company has a UK based subsidiary called Beetle Nut Home Ltd, floated on October 17, 2009. On the board of this subsidiary are two UK citizens of Indian origin, 25-year-old twins, Saahil Parkash Mehra and Sonya Mehra, both inducted just a couple of weeks after the AgustaWestland deal for VVIP choppers was approved on 18 January, 2010. At the incorporation stage, Beetle Nut Home was managed by a 29-year-old Danish citizen, Cristine Spliid. Spliid started by holding 50 shares. But by October 17, 2010, the Mehra siblings, Sonya and Sahil, end up becoming the majority shareholders holding 100 shares amongst them. By October 2011, when the next annual returns are filed, share pattern changes dramatically -Spliid 20,000, and Sahil siblings 30,000 amongst themselves. Christian Michel entered the picture under the pseudonym of David Nygel John Syms, acquiring 50,000 shares in this firm, the conclusion being that Dubai-based firm of Christian now held 50 per cent shares in the UK company Then there is the political connection to Christian Michel. Many old timers say Michel's biggest USP is his proximity to many top players within the Indian political and defence establishement. Something which he inherited from his father, Michel Wolfgang, who too was very close to senior Indian politicians between 1980s and 90s. All indicate that to get to the real beneficiaries of the 60 per cent kickbacks apparently meant for Michel, he needs to be questioned by the Indian authorities. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/agustawestland-deal-key-middleman-christian-michel-yet-to-be-quizzed/373685-2.html
CG Posted February 18, 2013 Posted February 18, 2013 Bofors gets a new avatar in AgustaWestland The VVIP helicopter deal and the associated kickback are set to become a political thriller in the days to come. More so, as it precedes a series of Assembly elections this year and then the Lok Sabha elections in April-May next year. Could this deal gone horribly wrong become the Bofors of the Manmohan Singh Government? This is precisely what the Congress is thinking and the party managers are correct in their assessment that fire fighting efforts have to be doubled and even trebled. They cannot leave anything to chance as BJP is pressing the accelerator and wants to convert the helicopter deal into the Bofors of UPA-II. You donÃÕ have to be a student of history to recall that VP Singh felled the mighty Rajiv Gandhi Government in 1989, largely on Defence kickbacks and Bofors had become a household name, a name synonymous with high-end corruption in which the big and mighty were involved. Many in the countryside at that time did not know what Bofors exactly was when the issue rocked the nation. But the way election campaign was run and the issue used, they knew one thing for sure that the word meant that the ruling Congress Government was involved in some murky dealing and had to be taught a lesson for the wrongdoing. This is what they did when the Congress with 400 plus seats was reduced to a figure below 200 in the polls, sending Rajiv Gandhi packing to the Opposition benches of Lok Sabha. A quarter of a century later, AgustaWestland could be a tongue twister and a difficult name to remember as compared to Bofors, but by and large, the message which VP Singh then conveyed through a series of rallies, has been conveyed instantly by the 24x7 news channels now. The vertical and parallel links, explored so far, point out towards the involvement of ruling political bigwigs apart from those in the command of the Air Force. As the entire plot of the helicopter deal is yet to be unearthed, more skeletons from the cupboard of the ruling party would tumble in the coming days and weeks to come. You cannot keep saying for eternity that the case has been handed over to the CBI for investigations and action would be taken once the investigations are complete. People now know from their experience of high value corruption involving politicians that it is a diversionary tactics, meant to delay and manipulate inconvenient facts. AgustaWestland is not the last one has heard of big ticket corruption which became a hallmark of the ruling UPA in its second term. More could tumble out in the remaining 14 months of the Government. The Commonwealth Games scandal, 2G Spectrum scam, Coalgate all saw serious acts of omission and commission by the UPA-led Central Government in which the amount of money involved was astronomical. Then, there were a host of other cases where a case was made out of misuse of power and authority like the land bought by Robert Vadra in Gurgaon and diverting the funds of the Congress for National Herald. In fact, people would be wondering how many scams of UPA-II remain ÅÖnexposed as of now. They are wary of anything which the Government purchases or schemes it spends on simply saying that wherever there is money involved, there is invariably a leakage. If the money is big, the leakage is traced to the big and mighty like in the AgustaWestland deal or the 2G and Commonwealth Games scam, if the money involved is small, the leakage is traced to junior officials lower level revenue and civic officials, clerks, section officers, Under Secretaries and IAS officers. One could criticise Anna HazareÃÔ concept of Jan Lokpal as a guardian of checking corruption terming it dictatorial, but the support it got suggests what people genuinely feel about all pervasive corruption and inaction of the Government. Clearly, there has been a governance deficit in the second term of Manmohan Singh as the economist turned Prime Minister has simply looked the other way even when one issue of corruption to the other rocked the Government for the better part of his tenure. What is the use of hiding behind the guise of ÅÊntegrity and honesty when you cannot control colossus corruption all around you? This is what people are asking now at the *** end of the political career of Singh when he is about to complete nine years at the helm. It will indeed be difficult for Rahul Gandhi, Congress vice president and the Number two to carry the legacy of Singh ÅÕolerance to corruption on his soldiers as and when the situation warrants. CPI (M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury says that UPA-II is the most corrupt regime since Independence. Obviously, Congress would not agree to it. But get a calculator and do a simple sum of adding the amount involved in all the scams which took place in the last 45 months and you would start believing Yechury even if you do not agree with the policies of his party. By going slow on the helicopter deal, the Congress Government has already triggered speculations that it has a lot to hide and the links could go right up to the top. BJP has a valid point when it asks that when the bribe giver has been arrested, why canÃÕ the investigating agency arrest the bribe taker in India. As per Indian law, both bribe giver and taker are guilty but everyone knows who carries the bigger guilt in the eyes of the people who vote in elections. Obviously, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi would not take the blame saying that the onus of governance lies at the doors of Manmohan Singh and they never held any Government office. Last year in May, when UPA completed three years in office, the Congress president said tough action will be taken against all those who are found to be involved in corruption. Does the party believe that transferring a case to CBI is indeed a ÅÕough action? I wonder what the Congress would sell in the next election. It has run out of issues to highlight and instead bogged down by a series of corruption at all levels of governance. Cash transfer of subsidy, being billed as the ÅÈame changer has so many loopholes ingrained in it that it would be foolhardy to believe that it would pay electoral dividends the way NAREGA did in the last tenure of UPA. Bribing the voters work, but not always. http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/128393-bofors-gets-a-new-avatar-in-agustawestland.html
Clarke Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Good news: babus from CBI, Ministry of Defence as well as Ministry of External Affairs are in Italy on a taxpayer funded vacation to 'investigate' the issue :haha:
Recommended Posts