Swedish bus maker Scania has refuted local media reports that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was gifted a luxury bus by the company's India arm in exchange for contracts.
" Scania India has not gifted any bus to Minister Gadkari. There is nothing in our investigation showing that the Transport Minister personally has been involved in Scania’s sales of the bus you are referring to," Hans-Åke Danielsson, Scania's Press Manager and Senior Advisor wrote in response to an e-mail query.
On Thursday, Mr. Gadkari's office rejected Swedish TV channel SVT's report as "malicious, fabricated and baseless" that the senior Minister was the recipient of a luxury bus in a purported transaction between Scania and an unnamed Indian company that supposedly has connections to members of Mr Gadkari's family.
"As SVT claims, Scania India sold the bus to one of its private dealers, which in its turn rented it (or sold) to a bus transport company," the Press Manager wrote. The luxury bus is of the long distance model, Scania Metrolink.
The company also replied that the 55 ethanol buses given to Nagpur Municipal Corporation as part of an MoU were repossessed by Scania India some years ago after the agreement was terminated.
