AgustaWestland replies to Govt notice, chopper deal fate to be clear in next few days

The Defence Ministry, which had given the firm time till today to reply to the show cause asking why the contract should not be cancelled in view of the bribery charges faced by it, will take a decision on the future of the Rs 3,600-crore deal in the next few days, Ministry officials said.

They said they will go through the response given by the Italian firm along with the evidence brought by the one- member

Ministry team from Italy and take a decision on the future of

the deal in the next few days. "We have responded to the show cause issued to us by the Indian government within the specified timeframe. We have told the Indian Defence Ministry that our conduct has met the legal requirements in India and there was no wrongdoing involved in it," an AgustaWestland spokesperson told PTI from Italy.

In its response, the firm has told the Defence Ministry that "its conduct has been fully compliant with the rules which regulate the AW101 helicopters contract signed with India".

AgustaWestland has said the Rs 3,600 crore contract "was awarded to it following a comprehensive technical and flight evaluation of competing types performed by the IAF in accordance with the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)."

On February 15, Indian Defence Ministry had issued show cause notice initiating the process to

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