NEW DELHI — India on Wednesday rejected denials by Italy’s Finmeccanica that the company paid bribes to clinch a $748-million contract for 12 British-built helicopters.
India in mid-February put payments to the company on hold and asked the Italian firm to reply if any terms of the contract and an “integrity pact” it signed in 2010 had been violated in securing the deal. Finmeccanica, whose chief executive was arrested Feb. 12 in Milan as part of a probe by Italian prosecutors, insisted in its response last week to the Indian government that it acted “correctly” in securing the deal.
“We do not believe the company’s reply to the government’s show-cause notice,” Defence Minister A.K. Antony told parliament Wednesday during a debate on the contract. Antony’s statements came as the government agreed to set up a joint parliamentary commission including opposition MPs to probe charges that bribes were paid to swing the deal in favor of Finmeccanica’s British unit, AgustaWestland.
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