NEW DELHI - An Italian court has barred India from encashing bank guarantees worth over Rs 23,600 millions of AgustaWestland as part of the penalties imposed on it after scrapping of the Rs 36,000 millions VVIP chopper deal. India has decided to file an appeal against the decision of the Italian court, a Defense Ministry spokesperson said. India has already encashed bank guarantees of around Rs 2,400 million deposited in banks in India but it is yet to recover...
the bank guarantees deposited in banks of Italy. An Italian court in Milan on March 17 accepted a plea by AgustaWestland’s parent company Finmecannica to stop India from encashing over Rs 23,600 (Euro 278 million).
“With this measure, the Court granted the requests made by the companies of the Finmeccanica Group, recognizing the manifestly abusive enforcement of the guarantees made by the Indian Defense Ministry, given the vagueness of the complaints made in relation to alleged breaches of contract,” Finmeccanica said in a statement. “The Milan court has confirmed the ruling made last January, prohibiting...the payment of collateral of more than 278 million euros deposited in relation to the contract,” it said.
India terminated the Rs 36,000 million deal on Jan 1 for procuring 12 VVIP AW-101 choppers for the IAF on allegations of payment of kickbacks and involvement of middlemen in the acquisition process by the Anglo-Italian firm. The Italian court had put a stay on India’s effort to encash the bank guarantees in an earlier hearing on Jan 8. After the cancellation of the contract, India had also decided to go in for arbitration with the Anglo-Italian firm and the two sides have nominated their members in this regard. The Anglo-Italian firm has already supplied three choppers to India and the delivery of the remaining nine was put on hold after Defence Minister AK Antony ordered a CBI probe into the corruption allegations after the arrest of Finmecannica’s former CEO Guiseppe Orsi and AgustaWestland’s former head Bruno Spagnolini in Italy in connection with the probe going on there. (PTI)
“With this measure, the Court granted the requests made by the companies of the Finmeccanica Group, recognizing the manifestly abusive enforcement of the guarantees made by the Indian Defense Ministry, given the vagueness of the complaints made in relation to alleged breaches of contract,” Finmeccanica said in a statement. “The Milan court has confirmed the ruling made last January, prohibiting...the payment of collateral of more than 278 million euros deposited in relation to the contract,” it said.
India terminated the Rs 36,000 million deal on Jan 1 for procuring 12 VVIP AW-101 choppers for the IAF on allegations of payment of kickbacks and involvement of middlemen in the acquisition process by the Anglo-Italian firm. The Italian court had put a stay on India’s effort to encash the bank guarantees in an earlier hearing on Jan 8. After the cancellation of the contract, India had also decided to go in for arbitration with the Anglo-Italian firm and the two sides have nominated their members in this regard. The Anglo-Italian firm has already supplied three choppers to India and the delivery of the remaining nine was put on hold after Defence Minister AK Antony ordered a CBI probe into the corruption allegations after the arrest of Finmecannica’s former CEO Guiseppe Orsi and AgustaWestland’s former head Bruno Spagnolini in Italy in connection with the probe going on there. (PTI)