NEW DELHI: The Defence ministry and the Indian Air Force — the two primary holders of information on the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland deal — have claimed that they do not have any records on the scrapped VVIP chopper deal with AgustaWestland.
The IAF headquarters in a recent reply to an RTI query said: “The information sought vide your RTI application is not available at this HQ.” The CBI, which is probing the case after being referred to by the MoD, had collected many records during investigation, but as per norms, copies of necessary documents were left with the ministry concerned or the department from where they had been collected.
Information on negotiations was sought
Under the RTI Act, an application was filed with the defence ministry seeking complete records related to the 2010 deal, including price negotiations, file notings, information on the Price Negotiation Committee meetings, initials estimates of the choppers, besides additions sought in the helicopters which increased the cost and deliberations which allowed lowering of flight ceiling.
The MoD transferred the application to the IAF on June 16 asking the latter to furnish the information. An application is transferred when the public authority does not have any or a part of information sought by the RTI applicant. Surprisingly, on May 6, the defence minister referred to several details of the deal during a Lok Sabha debate.
The CBI had registered a case against ex-IAF chief S.P. Tyagi and 13 others, including his cousins and European middlemen, in connection with alleged bribery scam.
