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The anti-corruption officers in Italy are said to arrive in India to discuss investigations and will meet the Central Vigilance Commission. This specifically linked to the VVIP Chopper Deal. The meeting is expected to strengthen the ties between India and Italy on the corruption front. This would include information sharing, communication between countries and investigation of financial crimes.
The VVIP Chopper Deal
The scandal began in 2012, with the VVIP Chopper scandal and the AgustaWestland scam. The matter caught much attention because it involved important public figures in India like Manmohan Singh. The scam was a deal to procure choppers from the AgustaWestland company in 2010. The Indian government was then trying to replace its Mi-38 choppers which were in use by VVIPs of the country. They, therefore, ordered 12 AgustaWestland’s AWA101 choppers.
AgustaWestland was a subsidiary company of Finmeccanica. The government resisted other deals and bought the choppers of AgustaWestland. Investigations by Italian officials revealed that the purchase was a fraud in itself. It was a 3, 546 crore rupees scam where middlemen were bribed. The involvement didn’t end at Manmohan Singh. It also included Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, who was then arrested for the same in 2016. When the names of those involved were revealed it cited the involvement of Sonia Gandhi as well. It led to loggerheads between BJP and Congress in the parliament.
The case in 2018
Giuseppe Orsi the former president of Finmeccanica was arrested in the process in 2014. But he was acquitted on 8 January 2018. So was Bruno Spagnolini who was the CEO of AgustaWestland. The Italian acquitted them on the grounds of insufficient evidence. But the CBI went ahead with its probe, saying that these developments won’t have any party to play in their investigation. A charge sheet has already been filed on the matter.
India has seen some very big scams over the years. Attempts to curb corruption are all undone with a large number of scams that place. Every time one ends a new one crops up. It’s almost as if India is playing a gigantic game of whack-a-mole with scams and corruption. Will there be a day, when we finally get the best of corruption, not the other way around?
Even if India is signing bilateral treaties to curb it, demonetization, etc. corruption isn’t going away. Policies like demonetization may only achieve a windfall gain for the government. The targets are sitting on their high horses it seems. But the corruption is at every level. Whether it’s a simple leaked question paper or helicopters for VVIPs. It’s funny, but no one’s laughing, that sums up Indian politics right now.