'Congress leader met AgustaWestland middleman Christian Michel in Dubai'

NEW DELHI: The UPA government panicked after Italian investigators arrested then Finmeccanica chairman Giuseppe Orsi on February 12, 2013, and sent the AgustaWestland files to the CBI within three hours for a probe, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

He said that the Congress government continued with the acquisition of choppers even though Italy had begun an investigation in 2011 and three of the choppers were delivered.

“Its (UPA) action was compulsorily forced by the arrest of Finmeccanica official... It did not take any pro-active measure,“ he said. Parrikar tried to show sympathy with former de fence minister A K Antony and dubbed him “bechara“.

“Bechare Antony sahab ke haath baandhe they (A helpless Antony had his limi tations),“ Parrikar said, add ing that once an arrest wa made in Italy in the case, “An tony was virtually in panic“. “...Because Antony wanted to protect his image, within two or three hours, Antony moved the file, cleared papers and ordered a CBI probe,“ he said. He said the UPA government had “done everything“ to help

AgustaWestland

bag the Rs 3,600-crore deal.

Parrikar also said that the CBI sat over the matter and “did nothing“ till January 2014. He added that he will ensure now that CBI and ED are working properly .

Earlier, BJP MP Anurag Thakur alleged that “a senior Congress leader recently met AgustaWestland middleman Christian Michel in Dubai“. He also made a veiled attack on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, saying that “her name was mentioned four times in the Italian court judgment“ on the AgustaWestland deal.

Meanwhile, during his questioning with the ED on Friday, IAF ex-chief S P Tyagi is learnt to have “denied having done any illegal dealings with any middlemen“. On the other hand, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi told CBI that he had “financial dealings with European middlemen Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke“. On many facts, CBI sources said that Sanjeev and another accused Gautam Khaitan remained evasive on Friday and tried to conceal information.

Sanjeev also admitted to property dealings with the former air chief.