Air India enquiry into charges against Patel ruled out

New Delhi - Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh Friday ruled out an investigation by Air India into the charges made by a Canadian daily that Praful Patel, former civil aviation minister, and officials of the national carrier took bribes in a procurement case in 2006.

"No. Air India will not have its own investigation into the issue. Anyone can write anything in a newspaper, but for an investigation there should be some substantial reason," Singh told reporters.

"He (Patel) has said that he has not done anything. I have no further information on the issue. He had spoken to the prime minister and is ready for any investigation."

Singh was reacting to reports that Patel had urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convey the "factual position" on the case to the Canadian authorities to avoid an embarrassment to the Indian government.

"I earnestly request you that the factual position can be conveyed to authorities in Canada in order to avoid any embarrassment to the government of India and to me personally," newspapers quoted Patel as telling the prime minister in a letter.

Patel said tenders for procurement of various items were routinely issued by Air India in the normal course of their business and at no stage these were dealt with or even sent to the ministry of civil aviation, much less to the minister for approval or otherwise.

Canadian daily Globe and Mail said in a news report Wednesday that the country's federal justice department was going to prosecute one Indian-born Nazir Karigar for paying bribes to Indian officials to secure a $100 million contract for the supply of facial-recognition systems to Air India.

The report alleged that Patel had received a bribe in conjunction with former Mumbai police commissioner Hasan Ghafoor, who was security director at Air India that time.

Ghafoor was said to have acted as a facilitator between his childhood friend Karigar and Patel.

Karigar has been accused of paying bribes on behalf of Canadian firm CryptoMetrics worth $250,000 each to Patel and Ghafoor for the contract that was floated by the airline in 2006.

The project never took off due to the massive cost involved in it.

Canadian anti-bribery law applies to foreign parties and officials who have accepted bribes.