Aviation Ministry says no to prosecution of official in Airbus case

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry has refused CBI sanction to prosecute a former joint secretary who, along with five other officials, was allegedly responsible for not availing of $175 million worth of concession from Airbus Industrie. The case relates to the 2006 purchase order of 43 aircraft from Airbus for Indian Airlines.
An Empowered group of ministers (EGOM) had negotiated $175 million worth of concessions before finalising the order. CBI says these concessions were not extracted from Airbus.
The civil aviation ministry's letter, written last week, urges CBI to 'review' its decision to seek clearance for prosecuting former joint secretary MP Vijay Kumar, who is now a member of the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).
"We disagree with the fundamental principle on which CBI is basing its case because the investment that Airbus is supposed to make in India is not Indian Airlines specific. They are ready to invest in India anyway and they are not going back on that commitment. We have written to CBI to not investigate this case at all as it is flawed," the official told ET.
CBI cannot register a regular case unless it gets the parent ministry's consent to probe the role of an official of the rank of joint secretary and above. In all likelihood, CBI will resend the request to the civil aviation ministry to grant sanction to prosecute Kumar.
19/11/11 Devesh Kumar/Economic Times

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Categories: Foreign Nov 2011, Indian Aviation- In General Nov 2011