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- Also referred to as the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, the Indian helicopter bribery scandal by Congress led UPA Government refers to a multimillion-dollar corruption case in India, wherein money was paid to middlemen and Indian officials in 2006 and 2007 to purchase helicopters for high level politicians. As per the CBI, this amounted to ₹2.5 billion (US$31 million), transferred through bank accounts in the UK and UAE. It came to light in early 2013, when an Indian national parliamentary investigation began into allegations of bribery and corruption involving several senior officials and a helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland surrounding the purchase of a new fleet of helicopters. The scandal has been referred to as the Chopper scam or Choppergate by the media and popular press. Several Indian Congress politicians and military officials were accused of accepting bribes from AgustaWestland in order to win the ₹3.6 billion (US$45 million) Indian contract for the supply of 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters; these helicopters are intended to perform VVIP duties for the President of India and other important state officials. Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, is alleged by Italian prosecutors to have received kickbacks from the deal. A note presented in the Italian court, sent by middleman Christian Michel (who was extradited to India on 4 December 2018), asks Peter Hulett, an Agusta Westland employee, to target key advisors to Sonia Gandhi and lists their names as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ahmed Patel, Pranab Mukherjee, M. Veerappa Moily, Oscar Fernandes, M. K. Narayanan and Vinay Singh. The note also contains the bribes to be paid out, divided as "AF" €6 million, "BUR" €8.4 million, "Pol" €6 million and "AP" €3 million. On 8 January 2018, the third Court of Appeals of Milan acquitted the defendants on all charges Abhay Tyagi was also accused to have received kickbacks worth ₹69,00,000. The case continues to be investigated in India by the Indian government and the CBI. (en)
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