AgustaWestland case | Congress says Centre revoked Finmeccanica ban, documents say otherwise

With both Congress and BJP both pointing fingers at each other over the AgustaWestland case, Rahul Gandhi on Monday spoke about the issue of blacklisting of Finmeccanica, of which AgustaWestland is a subsidiary.

The pitch on the issue of the VVIP Choppergate has been raised after the Enforcement Directorate told the Patiala High Court on Saturday that Christian Michel named "Mrs Gandhi and "R", along with some other stunning revelations. 

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had attempted to bring the focus on the BJP on the issue of Choppergate after the revelations and said that they will "investigate the alleged nexus between the company and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government when it comes to power” in 2019.

READ: AgustaWestland Case | Here's Congress' First Reaction After Middleman Christian Michel Names 'Mrs Gandhi' To ED

"Today, the ED [Enforcement Directorate] may save the Modi government but when it is voted out of power in 2019, we are fully committed to investigating the nexus between Prime Minister Modi and his government," he said.

Congress has also said that the BJP has not blacklisted the company Finmeccanica. Surjewala also said that the ban on AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica was revoked by the Modi government despite a pending Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case and also the violation of the ‘integrity clause’, for which its contract was terminated.

“Not only this, Modi government sought a special opinion from its attorney general in July 2014 and permitted Agusta Westland/Finmeccanica to be part of ‘Make in India’ and bid for 100 Naval utility helicopters besides clearing its investment proposals through FIPB for the manufacture of AW119 helicopters,” he said.

AK Antony also said that the party had blacklisted the company, but the Modi government favoured it, "We blacklisted many companies... so we had the guts to do so. The Modi government started favouring the Agusta Westland," he said.

When Rahul Gandhi was asked outside the Parliament about this, he passed the onus on the party and said, "The party has made its stand clear."

The BJP has vehemently opposed this saying that when it came to power it had banned Finmeccanica.

 

Christian Michel had named 'Mrs Gandhi' also spoke about “the son of the Italian lady” and how he is going to become the “next prime minister of the country” on Saturday, the Ed had told the Patiala House Court. Furthermore, during the hearing, ED also told the Patiala House Court that Christian Michel has identified how HAL(Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) was removed from the deal and the deal was offered to Tata instead.

READ - AgustaWestland Case | Had Said That Michel Will Speak Out Names Like A Canary: BJP's Suresh Nakhua on Christian Michel Naming 'Mrs Gandhi' And 'R'