British Firm Rolls Royce offers to return Rs. 18 crore paid as commission in defence deal

 

Facing the heat of a CBI probe in an alleged bribery scandal, British firm Rolls Royce has written to the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) that it was ready to return to the government Rs. 18 crore that it paid as commission to its agent.

British firm Rolls Royce wrote a letter to HAL on March 5 claiming that it has paid only 1.8 million pounds (Rs. 18 crore) as commission to its agent, Aashmore Private Limited, and was willing to return that amount to the government

Note

The Defence Ministry ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into Rolls Royce's alleged hiring of middlemen in contracts worth around Rs. 10,000 crore for supplying aircraft engines to the HAL

The Defence Ministry has already put on hold all existing and future deals with Rolls Royce pending a CBI probe ordered into allegations of bribery and engaging middlemen in contracts for supply of aircraft engines to HAL.

HAL has also been asked to take action to recover from the London-based Rolls Royce the money paid by it as commission to its agents

The CBI probe into allegations of kickbacks and unauthorised use of an outside “commercial adviser” by Rolls-Royce in contracts with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) came within weeks of the arrest of two arms commission agents in Britain by the Serious Fraud Office

In the last week of December 2013 that Rolls-Royce admitted to HAL of the unauthorised usage of the service of an outside “adviser” while selling gas turbines to India

After HAL’s internal discussions, the matter was referred to the Defence Ministry in Feb 2014 as it involved alleged violation of integrity protocol, which is laid down in India’s procurement rules

Rolls-Royce contracts, worth nearly Rs. 10,000 crore for the supply of aircraft engines to HAL for its trainer aircraft during 2007-2011