London: British firm Rolls Royce have written to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) saying it is ready to return Rs 18 crore to the government. The commissions paid to its agent Aashmore Private Limited are in violation of the procurement rules in India which prohibits hiring of middlemen or commission agents while transacting deals with the defence ministry.
Facing the heat of a CBI probe for the alleged bribery scandal the aerospace PSU is now planning to forward the letter to the government. The Indian Defence Ministry ordered a CBI probe into Rolls Royce’s alleged hiring of middlemen in contracts worth around Rs 10,000 crore for supplying aircraft engines HAL.Â
HAL has also been asked to take action to recover from the London-based Rolls Royce the money paid by it to its commission agents. HAL and Aashmore Private Limited have transacted business worth over Rs 5,000 crore from 2007-2011, according to media reports.Â
The bribery allegations surfaced after HAL received a letter claiming bribes were paid to officials in HAL and other departments concerned to bag contracts.