NEW DELHI: The procurement of AugustaWestland VIP chopper by the Chhattisgarh government in 2007 has come under the scanner of Supreme Court amid allegation that a kickback of $1.69 million was received and a part of it went to chief minister Raman Singh's son.
A bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and U U Lalit on Thursday said that it wanted to examine the original file on purchasing of VIP helicopter to find out whether there was any irregularity in the deal and directed the state government to place the documents before it within a week.
The court passed the order after advocate Prashant Bhushan alleged that huge commission was paid to the middleman in the deal and one of the beneficiaries might be the Chief Minister's son. He alleged that the price paid for the chopper was in excess to the prevailing market price at that time and about 30 percent of the cost of the chopper was paid as commission by Raman Singh government.
He said that the government had floated the tender only for Augusta helicopter despite recommendation of the Chief Secretary of the state to invite bids from other manufacturers. He also told the bench that other state governments had also purchased the same helicopter but at a much lower price.
"Three companies, represented by the same person, participated in the global tender issued by the state. An agreement was signed between the state government and M/s Sharp Ocean Investment Pvt Ltd on July 9., 2007. As per the agreement the aggregate amount of helicopter to be paid was US$ 6,570,000/- out of which US$ 2,897,800/- was to be paid to the company. The agreement, however, was not a tripartite agreement leaving out the most important party Agusta which was supposed to supply the helicopter in reality. The file notings establish that Agusta has not consented any agreement till that date. It is clear from the above that the sham agreement was entered just to facilitate payment to Sharp," he said.
He also brought to the court's notice that the Sharp was soon dissolved after the deal and at the same time chief minister's son Abhishak Singh had opened a bank account in British Virgin Island which was revealed in the Panama Papers. "There is a strong possibility that the money paid as commission in this deal as well as in other similar transactions have ultimately reached to his bank account and it needed to be probed," he said.
Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the state, refuted the allegation and said that Sharp was selected as its bid was lowest and the helicopter purchased by other states were of different models. He said that there was no illegality in teh deal and the petition was filed only after CM's son name was mentioned in Panama paper.
The bench, however, raised question on why Chief Secretary's suggestion was overruled by the state government and what was the reason for focussing on Augusta when other manufactures had also bid for the deal.
"Why the decision was taken only to focus on Augusta while issuing global tender. You produce the file. We want to satisfy ourself that there was no hanky-panky in teh deal. If you want to file affidavit then keep it ready," the bench said and granted one week time to the state to place the documents.
A bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and U U Lalit on Thursday said that it wanted to examine the original file on purchasing of VIP helicopter to find out whether there was any irregularity in the deal and directed the state government to place the documents before it within a week.
The court passed the order after advocate Prashant Bhushan alleged that huge commission was paid to the middleman in the deal and one of the beneficiaries might be the Chief Minister's son. He alleged that the price paid for the chopper was in excess to the prevailing market price at that time and about 30 percent of the cost of the chopper was paid as commission by Raman Singh government.
He said that the government had floated the tender only for Augusta helicopter despite recommendation of the Chief Secretary of the state to invite bids from other manufacturers. He also told the bench that other state governments had also purchased the same helicopter but at a much lower price.
"Three companies, represented by the same person, participated in the global tender issued by the state. An agreement was signed between the state government and M/s Sharp Ocean Investment Pvt Ltd on July 9., 2007. As per the agreement the aggregate amount of helicopter to be paid was US$ 6,570,000/- out of which US$ 2,897,800/- was to be paid to the company. The agreement, however, was not a tripartite agreement leaving out the most important party Agusta which was supposed to supply the helicopter in reality. The file notings establish that Agusta has not consented any agreement till that date. It is clear from the above that the sham agreement was entered just to facilitate payment to Sharp," he said.
He also brought to the court's notice that the Sharp was soon dissolved after the deal and at the same time chief minister's son Abhishak Singh had opened a bank account in British Virgin Island which was revealed in the Panama Papers. "There is a strong possibility that the money paid as commission in this deal as well as in other similar transactions have ultimately reached to his bank account and it needed to be probed," he said.
Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the state, refuted the allegation and said that Sharp was selected as its bid was lowest and the helicopter purchased by other states were of different models. He said that there was no illegality in teh deal and the petition was filed only after CM's son name was mentioned in Panama paper.
The bench, however, raised question on why Chief Secretary's suggestion was overruled by the state government and what was the reason for focussing on Augusta when other manufactures had also bid for the deal.
"Why the decision was taken only to focus on Augusta while issuing global tender. You produce the file. We want to satisfy ourself that there was no hanky-panky in teh deal. If you want to file affidavit then keep it ready," the bench said and granted one week time to the state to place the documents.
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