CBI raids Aeromatrix, IDS Infotech office premises

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths from the national capital on Wednesday raided the offices of two companies in Chandigarh and Mohali for their alleged role in the VVIP chopper deal.

The officers searched the premises of Aeromatrix at the Rajiv Gandhi Information Technology Park here and IDS Infotech in Mohali. “Some important documents, files  and information on the computer hard discs were recovered,” sources said.

Aeromatrix’s name appeared in some documents submitted to a Naples court in connection with the case. There were allegations that the bribe money was routed to India through IDS, Tunisia and IDS, Mauritius. Aeromatrix was established in 2007, with Parveen Bakshi as its chief executive officer. Bakshi had earlier worked with IDS Infotech. Balance sheets of the company also suggested a link to IDS, Tunisia.

According to sources, investigating Aeromatrix was crucial in the case because the company has Guido Ralph Haschke, the alleged middleman and his partner Carlo Gerosa as directors. This was earlier confirmed by Bakshi in an interview. He, However, denied any involvement in the deal, claiming that Aeromatrix was a small company with a meagre profit of about Rs 40 lakh. According to him, the company provided engineering and design support services to Finmeccanica Agusta, the company that manufactured the helicopters.

In February 2010, India had inked a Rs 3,600 crore deal to acquire 12 AW-101 helicopters from Agusta Westland for the air force’s elite communication squadron, which ferries the president, prime minister and other VVIPs.
DH News Service