Hindustan Aeronautics Limited logo. File-| Photo Credit: X/@HALHQBLR

The Centre defended Hindustan Aeronautics Limited record on maintaining all “international obligations on strategic trade controls and end-user commitments”

India  has refuted a New York Times article that alleged the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) may have “re-routed British sensitive equipment” to Russian Rosoboronexport, which is sanctioned by the United Kingdom and European Union.

“The New York Times report is factually incorrect and misleading. It has tried to frame issues and distort facts to suit a political narrative,”

The Centre defended HAL record on maintaining all “international obligations on strategic trade controls and end-user commitments” and said India’s regulatory framework is “robust”

The Indian entity mentioned in the report has scrupulously followed all its international obligations on strategic trade controls and end-user commitments,” said a source told PTI.

“We expect reputed media outlets to undertake basic due diligence while publishing such reports, which obviously was overlooked in the instant case,” the source said.

The New York Times report, citing “documents”, claimed that one of the biggest corporate donors to the populist Reform U.K. party has sold almost $2 million worth of transmitters, cockpit equipment, antennas and other sensitive technology to a major supplier of Moscow’s blacklisted state weapons agency.

From 2023 to 2024, the company, part of the British aerospace manufacturer H.R. Smith Group, shipped the equipment to an Indian firm that is the biggest trading partner of the Russian arms agency, the report claimed.

“The records do not prove that H.R. Smith’s products ended up in Russia. But they show that, in some instances, the Indian company received equipment from H.R. Smith and, within days, sent parts to Russia with the same identifying product codes,” the report said.

The H.R. Smith Group said that its sales were lawful and the equipment was destined for an Indian search-and-rescue network, the NYT report said.

The parts “support lifesaving operations” and are “not designed for military use”, it quoted a company lawyer as saying.

A Reform Party spokesman said the donation from the company was “lawful” and “such woeful attempt to smear Reform will not work”, according to the report.

Source – PTI

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