Airbus whistleblower's graft leak scuppered chopper deal?
New Delhi, May 12: Even as it is buffeted by bribery probes in several countries, aviation major Airbuss operation in India has flown into turbulence with reports of a whistleblower alleging graft in a chopper deal and the leak of sensitive classified information causing alarm in the government.
The Economic Times on Friday reported that Airbus Group has informed the Defence Ministry of an internal investigation into the allegations of the whistleblower over the tender for 14 twin-engine EC725 helicopters for the Indian Coast Guard. The deal is estimated to be worth Rs 2,000 crore.
According to the report, what has alarmed the government is that the whistleblower's letter making the allegation of graft had several highly classified documents attached to it.
When contacted, a senior Airbus Spokesperson said: "Airbus takes all whistleblower allegations very seriously and investigates such allegations thoroughly to ascertain any breach of its code of ethics and compliance. Airbus is fully dedicated to complying with its commitments and obligations under the Indian law."
He added: "Airbus will not comment on details of the press report concerning an Airbus Helicopter campaign."
Earlier, in February, Airbus had expressed that the commercial bid for the chopper deal that it had won, valid till February 15, had not been extended - and had therefore lapsed. Airbus had, however, refused to give any further details or the reasons behind the decision.
It is now being speculated that the whistleblower's allegation and the leak of documents, which first surfaced in December last year, may have been the reason for the non-extension of its commercial bid for the chopper deal.
According to the ET report, the anonymous letter sent to the Defence Ministry alleged that "benchmarking norms were changed and spare engine price calculations were hidden to favour Airbus and named three top coast guard officers as beneficiaries".
The report also alleged that "fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari and former business consultant Deepak Talwar, both of whom left the country after cases were registered against them by investigating agencies, acted as agents for Airbus".
The chopper deal was important for the Indian Coast Guard as it would have fulfilled its requirement for an advanced helicopter to step up its maritime surveillance so as to prevent a repeat of the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008.
Currently, the Coast Guard has aging Chetak helicopters and the Advanced Light Helicopter --Dhruv -- in its fleet.
While the Defence Ministry first began its conversation with Airbus almost six years back, the commercial bid for 14 of these medium lift helicopters was made in 2015, and Airbus had emerged as the lowest bidder.
The deal also involved offsets worth Rs 600 crore, and a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility was to be set up in Goa.
"Airbus is engaged with the Indian Coast Guard and the Ministry of Defence to fulfil the need for 14 twin-engine heavy duty choppers following a campaign in which Airbus emerged as the lowest bidder by a very wide margin," the Airbus spokesperson told here.
Airbus's India troubles come at a time it is bracing for a difficult landing over corruption allegations in several countries. According to media reports, the company's woes are a result of its use of "commercial agents" - or intermediaries -- who specialise in "difficult" territories where they can assist multinationals in securing contracts.
Often characterised as consultancy, such work can be legitimate where it involves technical advice, such as regulatory best practice when bidding for a government contract. In other instances, it is nothing more than a euphemism for knowing who to bribe and for how much, a report in The Guardian newspaper said.
According to another media report, trouble for the group began in 2014, when an internal review of supplier payments at Airbus exposed irregularities. It ended up reporting itself to Britain's Serious Fraud Office and to France's equivalent body for lying to export-credit agencies about bribes given by third-party consultants to secure sales.
In October last year, Airbus said it may have violated American rules on arms exports because of fees paid to sales agents to secure deals. Austrian and German authorities are also investigating bribery claims tied to the sale of $2.1 bn-worth of Eurofighter jets back in 2003, the report said.
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Hundreds of different dinosaur footprints discovered in UK's Oxfordshire
London (PTI): Researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham have uncovered a huge expanse of quarry floor filled with hundreds of different dinosaur footprints.
In a stunning find, the teams uncovered multiple enormous trackways dating back to the Middle Jurassic Period (around 166 million years ago).
The trackways form part of a huge ‘dinosaur highway’ and include footprints from the nine-metre ferocious predator Megalosaurus, and herbivorous dinosaurs up to twice that size.
The excavation will be broadcast on BBC Two’s Digging for Britain on January 8 and featured in a new public exhibition Breaking Ground at Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH).
These footprints offer an extraordinary window into the lives of dinosaurs, revealing details about their movements, interactions, and the tropical environment they inhabited.
The dig, carried out at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, uncovered five extensive trackways with evidence of more in the surrounding area.
The longest continuous trackway measured more than 150 metres in length.
Four of the trackways were made by gigantic, long-necked, herbivorous dinosaurs called sauropods, most likely to be Cetiosaurus, an up to 18-metre-long cousin of the well-known Diplodocus.
The fifth trackway was made by the carnivorous theropod dinosaur, Megalosaurus which had distinctive, large, three-toed feet with claws.
One area of the site shows the carnivore and herbivore tracks crossing over, raising questions about whether and how the two were interacting.
Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur worldwide to be scientifically named and described in 1824, and kick-started the last 200 years of dinosaur science.
Dr Emma Nicholls, Vertebrate Palaeontologist at OUMNH, explained: “Scientists have known about and been studying Megalosaurus for longer than any other dinosaur on Earth, and yet these recent discoveries prove there is still new evidence of these animals out there, waiting to be found.”
The footprints were buried under mud but came to light when quarry worker Gary Johnson felt ‘unusual bumps’ as he was stripping the clay back with his vehicle, in order to expose the quarry floor.
At this point, the experts were called in. Working closely with Dewars Farm and Duns Tew Quarry Manager Mark Stanway, and his staff, the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham co-led a team of more than 100 people on a week-long excavation in June 2024.
Together, they painstakingly uncovered around 200 footprints and built detailed 3D models of the site using aerial drone photography – documenting the footprints in unprecedented detail for future research.
Professor Kirsty Edgar, Professor of Micropalaeontology at the University of Birmingham, said: “These footprints offer an extraordinary window into the lives of dinosaurs, revealing details about their movements, interactions, and the tropical environment they inhabited.”
Mark Stanway and his team at Smiths Bletchington provided an enormous amount of support from the initial discovery through to the full excavation. They were invaluable in providing both their extensive expertise in the local geology, and operating specialist equipment such as excavators and rock saws.
The new trackways connect to discoveries made in the area in 1997, where previous limestone quarrying revealed more than 40 sets of footprints, with some trackways reaching up to 180 m in length.
At the time, the site provided major new information on the types of dinosaurs present in the UK during the Middle Jurassic Period. The site was recognised as one of the most scientifically important dinosaur track sites in the world and subsequently designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
However, the original site is largely no longer accessible and, since the findings predated the use of digital cameras and drones, there is limited photographic evidence.
The new trackways add to the significance of the area, and even though the discoveries are separated by just thirty years, modern techniques and technology mean the prints can be recorded much more comprehensively than ever before.
Professor Richard Butler, Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Birmingham, said: “There is much more that we can learn from this site, which is an important part of our national Earth heritage. Our 3D models will allow researchers to continue to study and make accessible this fascinating piece of our past for generations to come.”
During the new excavation, more than 20,000 images were created of the prints. These will provide a wealth of material for further study and education and could yield valuable insights into how these dinosaurs walked, including speeds, how large they were, and if and how they interacted.
Dr Duncan Murdock, Earth Scientist at OUMNH, said: “The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the mud was deformed as the dinosaur’s feet squelched in and out. Along with other fossils like burrows, shells and plants we can bring to life the muddy lagoon environment the dinosaurs walked through.”
The BBC’s Digging for Britain team filmed the work as part of a new series due to be broadcast next week. Presented by Professor Alice Roberts, who is also the University of Birmingham’s Professor of Public Engagement in Science, the programme will be available on iPlayer from 7th January, and broadcast on BBC Two on 8th January 2025.
The dig will also feature in the exhibition Breaking Ground at OUMNH, which tells the story of major developments in our understanding of the history of life and Earth.
Visitors will be able to view the Megalosaurus fossils used in the first description of a dinosaur, see photographs and video footage from the dig site, and learn about the latest techniques used by palaeontologists to study dinosaurs.
The excavation was funded by the Geologists’ Association, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, and the University of Birmingham Alumni Fund.
