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Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee issued a
statement in the Parliament defending
the Scorpene deal. Mukherjee said that
the deal was concluded during the
reign of the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) Government, which could
not close the deal because of the
elections.
Pointing out inaccuracies in the Outlook expose
and NDA's accusation from yesterday,
Mukherjee clarified that the deal was
worth USD 1.7 billion and not USD 4.5
billion. He denied his Government had
paid an extra USD 1 billion for the
deal or that it was related to the
Navy War Room leak scandal. However,
he said that about USD 800 million is
budgeted for taxes and another USD 500
million for other items but did not
specify what the taxes are for or what
these other items are meant for.
Another Public Sector company was
given a contract for USD 1.4 billion,
which comes close to USD 4 billion for
the whole deal when only USD 1.7
billion was paid for the Scorpene
submarines.
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