Did journalists accept freebies or favours from AgustaWestland

As the AgustaWestland scandal, the India’s biggest bribery scandal, has been tainting the image of our journalists extensively, the top court has decided to hear a petition submitted by a renowned journalist seeking a clear clarification on ‘did our journalists accept any bribe from the Italian firm AgustaWestland’. It is alleged that some prominent journalists working in our country have accepted favours or freebies from the Italian company to pen the news reports in favour of the corrupted deal.

It is assumed that some top politicians, defence personalities and bureaucrats are involved in the infamous chopper deal in which the company has allegedly distributed thirty million Euro as a bribe to win the deal worth over five hundred million US dollars. Agreeing to hear the petition submitted by journalist Hari Jaisingh, the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra and Arun Mishra has forwarded the petition to the concerned officials of the Enforcement Department and Central Bureau of Investigation who are investigating the alleged irregularities and corruption. As per the report, the petition has also sought a status report on the authenticity of the allegations raised against the media personals. The irregularities and corruption surfaced when a CAG report presented before the parliament in August 2013 pointed out that some commendable departures were made from the Defence Procurement Procedure Rule 2006 to award the chopper deal. In the petition, the journalist reminds that a journalist is similar to a public servant and the former should bear the same responsibility as that of the latter.

Vignesh

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