Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) had carried a pre-trial investigation in the case which is in progress, however, they have categorically told India Today that "pre-trial investigation is in no way related to the actions of public officials of the Republic of India."

Earlier, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had attacked the central government quoting news reports which claimed that Ukraine's National Corruption Bureau had asked for Indian government's help to solve a case where kickbacks were allegedly given to officials in a deal with Ukraine for An-32 aircraft spares.

"Ministry of Defence, India (MODI) officials, accused of making millions of $'s in kickbacks via Dubai by Ukrainian Govt. in AN32 deal Modiji, as our self-proclaimed Chokidar, I urge you to take immediate action against your corrupt MODI officials," Rahul Gandhi had tweeted.

In a written response to India Today, a spokesperson for NABU said, "The pre-trial investigation in this proceeding was started at the end of 2017. The investigation is in progress. Nobody was given a notice of suspicion. We emphasise that the above mentioned pre-trial investigation is in no way related to the actions of public officials of the Republic of India."

Earlier India's Ministry of Defence had issued a statement saying that none of MoD officials were involved in any kind of embezzlement.

The NABU office further confirmed, "In terms of the proceeding, the NABU detectives investigate the conditions of the implementation of a subsidiary company of the State Enterprise Ukrspetstekhnosport -- Spetstechnonexport of one of the agreements in 2015-2016."

What's interesting is that neither Ministry of Defence nor Ukraine's NABU have said anything about the possible role of private individuals in this case.