New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) - No more Italian helicopters will be delivered to India in the foreseeable future, this following the start of an investigation into corruption and tax fraud by Italian aerospace and defence firm Finmeccanica. A US$ 1.5 billion helicopter deal between France and India might also fall through. The same could happen to 126 French fighter jets worth US$ 12 billion that French President François Hollande is trying to sell during an official visit to India, his first in Asia.
Payments to the Italian firm were frozen last night after the firm's chief Giuseppe Orsi was arrested in Milan on Tuesday. Italian authorities have been investigating him for bribery and embezzlement regarding a US$ 752 million 12-helicopter August Westland deal.
India also has to replace its fleet of vintage Cheetah/Chetak utility choppers, which date back to the 1970s. French company Eurocopter's Fennec and Russian Kamov Ka-226T are participating in the tender for the supply of the light utility helicopters, but technical factors have so far prevented the deal.
Italian company Agusta Westland was a contender originally, but was eliminated, leaving the ground to Eurocopter Fennec for the US$ 1.5 billion deal for 197 helicopters.