Jaitley seeks Antony's clarification on VVIP chopper deal

BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Saturday sought clarifications from Defence Minister A K Antony on his statement on the now-cancelled VVIP chopper deal, raising doubts over the meaning being given to word “FAM” in documents seized from alleged middleman Guido Haschke.

In an article on his website, he said Antony, in his suo moto statement in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, said that a crucial document seized from Haschke contains two important statements about “FAM” and “AP”.

“It mentions ‘as Mrs Gandhi is the driving force behind the VIP, she will not fly any more in MI-8 (helicopter)’. This document gives a list of persons, including various ministers and party functionaries, who are close to Mrs.Gandhi. The account sheet, separately seized, uses under the title ‘Political’ which refers to ‘AP’. The next entry is ‘FAM’, which now is admitted to mean family,” Jaitley noted.

“I have already said that these note sheets remind us of the 1987 seizures in Sweden where the entry in Martin Ardbo’s diary referred to the word ‘Q’. It eventually became clear as to who ‘Q’ was. Is it rocket science, in the political arena, to decipher the abbreviation mentioned in the note sheet?

“Is it not unusual for a middleman to be referred to as ‘Family’?  When words in their natural course are understood to have a particular meaning, why should the word ‘Family’ be given a meaning other than how it is understood in India?” Jaitley said.