Formally lifting the ban on Italian firm Leonardo SpA and its subsidiary AgustaWestland, previously Finmeccanica, the defence ministry has released an updated list of companies debarred and suspended from business dealings with it, officials familiar with the developments said on Sunday.
Leonardo SpA and AgustaWestland were banned in 2014 in the wake of allegations of corruption in a Rs 3,500-crore VVIP helicopters deal.
India had scrapped the contract with AgustaWestland for supplying the 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of kickbacks paid by the firm for securing the deal.
Sources said Leonardo SpA has given a letter withdrawing its claims of 350 million euros on the cancelled order of the VVIP helicopters.
Though the defence ministry has lifted the ban on the two Italian firms, as per reports the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the VVIP chopper deal will continue.
“The company would also not be allowed to make any financial claims from the Government of India based on any agreements signed earlier and it will have to start afresh after the ban is lifted,” sources said.
The ministry had issued a list of companies that were either debarred, suspended, or put on hold earlier on November 12.
As many as six companies—Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd (STK), Israel Military Industries Ltd (IMI), TS Kisan & Co Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, RK Machine Tools Ltd, Ludhiana, Rheinmetall Air Defence (RAD), Zurich, and Corporation Defence, Russia—were debarred, according to the ministry’s list.
Meanwhile, doing business with 13 firms has been put on hold or suspended. These include IDS, Tunisia, Infotech Design System (IDS), Mauritius, IDS Infotech Ltd, Mohali, Aeromatrix Info Solution Pvt Ltd, Chandigarh, Shanx Oceaneering Inter Spiro India Pvt Ltd, Inter Spiro India Pvt Ltd, Experts Systems, Unitech Enterprises, Kelvin Engineering, Atlas group of companies including Atlas Telecom and Atlas Defence Services, Offset India Solutions (P) Ltd and its Group companies/functionaries, Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, Switzerland and Vectra Advanced Engineering Pvt Ltd (VAEPL).
Six Scorpene submarines are being built under Project-75 by state-run Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) under technology transfer from the Naval Group of France.
The ministry’s notification comes as the opposition Congress party on Monday raised questions about the reported lifting of the ban on procurement from Finmeccanica, according to a report by news agency PTI.