By Vivek Raghuvanshi
NEW DELHI — AgustaWestland’s VVIP helicopter scandal has hit India’s long-pending tender to buy 197 Light Utility Helicopters (LUH).
The Defence Acquisition Council at its April 2 meeting failed to decide on the fate of the LUH buy and instead was apprised of the probe initiated by the Indian Army into the role of a serving brigadier who allegedly sought kickbacks to swing the LUH helicopter deal in 2009.
Documents seized by Italian authorities while probing Finmeccanica point to the brigadier’s offer to swing the deal, said a source in the Indian Ministry of Defence. No evidence has so far been found against the brigadier, who was overseeing the flight trials of the LUH in 2010.
The $1 billion LUH tender, in which Kamov of Russia and Eurocopter are competing, could face cancellation for the second time in six years, added the source, because of the latest controversy.
Read the full story at DefenseNews