New Delhi: India is likely to file an appeal against the order of an Italian court rejecting its request to encash bank guarantees on the AgustaWestland helicopter deal.
In a setback to India, an Italian court has barred it from encashing bank guarantees worth over Rs 2,360 crore of AgustaWestland as part of the penalties imposed after scrapping the scam-tainted Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal.
An Italian court in Milan yesterday accepted a plea by AgustaWestland's parent company Finmecannica to stop India from encashing over Rs 2,360 crore (Euro 278 million).
"With this measure, the Court granted the requests made by the companies of the Finmeccanica Group, recognising the manifestly abusive enforcement of the guarantees made by the Indian Defense Ministry, given the vagueness of the complaints made in relation to alleged breaches of contract," Finmeccanica said in a statement.
"The Milan court has confirmed the ruling made last January, prohibiting...the payment of collateral of more than 278 million euro deposited in relation to the contract," it said.
India has already encashed bank guarantees of around Rs 240 crore deposited in banks in India but it is yet to recover the bank guarantees deposited in banks of Italy.
India had cancelled Rs 3,600 crore deal on January 1 for procuring 12 VVIP AW-101 choppers for the IAF citing a breach of integrity and alleging kickbacks which are being investigated in by the CBI.
(With additional information from PTI)
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