New Delhi: Defence minister A.K. Antony has red-flagged a proposal of his own ministry to continue doing business with the UK-based Rolls Royce, which is facing a CBI probe for allegedly paying bribes and engaging middlemen in contracts for supplying engines to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
After the scam broke out early this year, the defence ministry had put on hold all dealings with Rolls Royce pending a CBI probe ordered into the allegations against it.
The defence ministry wing dealing with the Rolls Royce case is understood to have recommended that the government should continue doing business with the firm but Mr Antony refused to give a go ahead and asked the officials concerned to take an opinion from the law ministry and the solicitor general before moving any further in the case, government sources said here.
The minister had earlier asked the ministry to take an opinion from the law ministry about the actions that could be taken against Rolls Royce.
The firm has already told the defence ministry that it would return Rs 18 crore paid by it as commission to its agents but the government is yet to take any decision in this regard.
Rolls Royce in a letter written to HAL in December last admitted it had employed a Singapore-based person identified as Ashok Patni and his firm Aashmore Private Limited as “commercial advisor” in India, providing sales and logistical support, local business support and “strategic advice”.
