Won’t spare the guilty, says Defence Ministry

The Defence Ministry on Thursday vowed to leave no stone unturned in pursuing all means to bring to justice the “corrupt” and the “wrong-doers” in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal case.

Refuting the claims of the Congress that the Anglo-Italian helicopter-maker was blacklisted by the UPA government, the Ministry said it was the NDA that had put on hold prospective deals of six companies involved in the scam

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate were vigorously pursuing all aspects of the investigation, including the arrest and extradition of three alleged middlemen of the deal — Carlo Gerosa, Guido Haschke Ralph and Christian Michel James, a Ministry statement said.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is expected to make a statement on the issue next Wednesday.

Pursuing the aggressive line taken by the party, BJP president Amit Shah demanded that Congress president Sonia Gandhi disclose who the “bribe takers” were in the deal, for which an Italian court had punished the “bribe givers.”

The Rajya Sabha witnessed an uproar over some remarks of BJP MP Subramanian Swamy but they were ordered expunged.