JOIN USThe CBI has denied a media report which said the agency is investigating the allegations of bribe changing hands in an aborted $100-million Air India deal in 2007 after it was briefed by Canadian authorities.
“Reports have been published in a section of the media regarding Canadian authorities contacting the CBI on an alleged bribery issue concerning Air India. It is clarified that the CBI has no such preliminary enquiry or regular case registered in this connection,” the agency said in a statement issued here.
Earlier on Sunday, an English daily claimed that the CBI is conducting what is being described as a “discreet inquiry” in the case.
The report asserted Canadian authorities had briefed the agency on the allegations through diplomatic channels and following a personal interaction with Canadian officials, the CBI has been “actively” inquiring the 2007 deal for purchase of facial recognition biometric systems from a Canadian firm named CryptoMetrics.
The alleged scandal came to light after a report in this regard was published in leading Canadian newspapers “Globe” and the “Mail” which also named the then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel as an intended beneficiary of a $250,000 bribe.