JOIN USCBI names Tyagi, kin in copter scam
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday named former Air Force chief S P Tyagi and his three cousins in a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) on allegations of bribery in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal.
Besides Tyagi and his cousins Julie, Docsa and Sandeep Tyagi, the PE mentioned Italian arms major Finmeccanica and its subsidiary AgustaWestland, which supplied the choppers and two Indian firms IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix. It was learnt that European middlemen Carlo Garosa, Christian Michel and Guido Haschkhe, advocate Gautam Khaitan, who was earlier associated with Aeromatrix, the company’s CEO Praveen Bakshi, former Finmeccanica chairman Giuseppe Orsi and former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini also figured in the PE.
The agency is likely to call the Indians named in the PE for questioning soon. However, all of them have denied the charges.
The CBI files a PE when the information available with it is deemed adequate to indicate commission of cognisable offence. This will be followed by a First Information Report.
Meanwhile, S P Tyagi became the second former defence services chief to have figured in a CBI probe. Former Admiral Sushil Kumar was named by the agency in a case regarding alleged kickbacks in purchase of Barak missiles a few years ago.
AgustaWestland was awarded the contract for 12 VVIP helicopters. Three choppers have already been delivered and are in service even as the government suspended future deliveries.
The PE is understood to have mentioned that Finmeccanica paid a commission of seven million euros (about Rs 50 crore) to middlemen, out of which huge amounts were transferred to seven Indian nationals through Tunisia and Mauritius.
The agency will now investigate whether “some middlemen influenced the deal in favour of the Italian company.” The money was transferred under the garb of engineering contracts to two Indian companies, IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix, it said. The total bribe amount was said to be 10 per cent of the contract, which amounts to Rs 360 crore.
The PE was filed just a couple of days after a team of CBI officials returned from Italy with some documents from Finmeccanica.
A joint secretary of the Defence Ministry had also accompanied the CBI team. Earlier reports suggested that the CBI team returned empty-handed. However, it was later claimed that the agency sleuths had enough material to nail those involved in the deal.
The team had met officials of the Italian government and Finmeccanica and asked them for a copy of their internal investigation.
The team had also met senior officials of the Italian judiciary, including the judge in the case, to request their assistance in investigating into the role of Indians in the alleged scam.