New Delhi, Feb 13 : Expressing serious concern over the Italian chopper
scam, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Wednesday said
the defence ministry must clean up the system and evolve a kind of
mechanism, which becomes more transparent, accountable and answerable to
Parliament and the people of the country.

"There should be some
transparency. The Defence Ministry must clean up the system and Defence
Ministry must evolve a kind of mechanism, which becomes more
transparent, which becomes more accountable, answerable to the
Parliament and the people of the country," he said.

Stating that
the nation has witnessed the revelation of many scams in defence
establishment in the past, including the Bofors scandal and the Coffin
scandal, Raja said the latest disclosure is a very serious matter.

"
Something rotten in the defence establishment, there is no transparency
and I do not see any accountability is there or not. The Defence
Minister, Mr. A. K. Antony, has said that there has been a CBI inquiry
ordered and strict actions will be taken. But the country wants to know
what happens to all the inquiries. The country wants to know what
prosecution takes place and how the guilty are punished and the
country''s interests are protected," he added.

Pointing out at
the financial aspect, Raja said the people''s money is swindled because
if there is no bribe there can be a direct deal and that will benefit
the country financially.

"Now, the security aspect also, if the
top brass in the defence establishment they are vulnerable to bribe and
buying then it is a very serious matter and the entire system needs to
be cleaned up. I do not know what steps Mr. A. K. Antony as Defence
Minister is going to take in the coming days we will have to wait. But
it is a very serious matter and the Defence Minister will come out with
very elaborate statement explaining what is happening with the defence
establishment as far as purchase of equipments (is concerned)," he
added.

Defence Minister A K Antony earlier in the day said that
the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been asked to give an
early report on its probe into alleged helicopter deal.

Antony,
who was speaking to the media at the Asian Security Conference here,
said corruption will not be tolerated in defence deal, and added that
the government will take strict action against the guilty.

"I
have no information," he added, when asked to comment on the alleged
role of former Air Chief S P Tyagi in the VVIP chopper deal.

The arrest of Italian company chief in Milan prompted the government in India to order a CBI probe.

Finmeccanica
CEO Giuseppe Orsi, who was arrested on Tuesday in Rome, had been under
investigation for months and had denied any wrongdoing in the deal for
the sale of 12 Augusta Westland helicopters to India in 2010.

The
said contract was signed in February 2010 for the purchase of 12
helicopters. In view of media reports, the Ministry of Defence through
the Ministry of External Affairs had sought information from the
Governments of Italy and UK. No specific inputs were, however, received
substantiating the allegations.

The contract signed with M/s.
Augusta Westland includes specific contractual provisions against
bribery and the use of undue influence as well as an Integrity Pact.
(ANI)