Augusta Westland deal: Govt pursuing allegations of bribery

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, he said, if any wrongdoing is found in the case, "suitable penalty measures" will be taken by the Ministry.

"Defence Ministry is constantly pursuing the matter and committed to take suitable penalty measures in event of allegations being substantiated. However, in absence of any specific information in this regard, government has not ordered any formal inquiry into the case so far," he said.

India has signed a contract with Augusta Westland- a subsidiary of Italian Finmeccanica Group- for procuring 12 helicopters (eight VVIP version) at a total cost of Euro 556.262 million. The deliveries of the choppers are scheduled between January to July 2013, Antony said.

He said the reports of alleged kickbacks to Indian officials came to the notice of Defence Ministry following media reports, suggesting alleged unethical dealings by Finmeccanica and the probe into the Indian contract by Italian prosecutors.

On follow-up action by Indian government, Antony said, "The Embassy of India took up the matter with government of Italy for their official position and intimated us that they have no official position on the issue in view of independence of judiciary and Italian prosecutors being neither under the executive nor accountable to it."

He also told the House that a response

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