Mistry drags Tata Sons into Agusta scam

 In a series of statements that would sting Ratan Tata, ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry on Sunday linked former defence secretary Vijay Singh, a member of the board of Tata Sons, with the AgustaWestland chopper deal.

“It’s amusing to see Vijay Singh concoct theories to defend his role in Ratan Tata’s conspiracy to replace Cyrus Mistry. To understand the true motives of Vijay Singh’s statements, it is important to understand his track record,” the office of Mistry said in a detailed statement targeting Singh, a non-executive director of Tata Sons.

A 1970-batch IAS officer, Singh was a former chief secretary in the Madhya Pradesh government and has served in the Union government in various capacities, including as defence secretary. In the three-page statement, the Mistry’s office quoted several media reports against Singh.

“In 2006, he was unceremoniously removed from the post of chief secretary by the then chief minister during the clean-up of the Rs 700 crore Inter Corporate Deposit (ICD) scam in Madhya Pradesh,” the statement said.

It further said: “As recent media headlines indicate, the ex-chief of the IAF, S P Tyagi, was arrested by the CBI in the AugustaWestland scam. Many questions continue to remain unanswered. As defence secretary, Singh was a key official involved in the award of the Rs 3600-crore plus VVIP helicopter contract to AugustaWestland in 2010. It is a matter of public record that the government had to cancel the contract, dubbed “Choppergate” by the media, due to charges of corruption and graft.”

Then targeting Ratan Tata, the statement further added: “In 2010, Ratan Tata had set up a JV with Italy-based Finmeccanica SpA’s helicopter unit AgustaWestland, called Indian Rotor Craft (IRL) to manufacture AW119 utility helicopters. Media reports indicate that the assembly line envisaged in this JV would address part of Finmeccanica’s offset obligation arising from the sale of the now cancelled VVIP helicopters.”

It is a matter of record that Ratan Tata travelled to Italy to “voluntarily depose” for Finmeccanica’s chief Guiseppe Orsi as a defense witness in 2014. Incidentally, in April of this year, an Italian court sentenced Orsi to jail for false accounting and corruption, the statement points out.

After the retirement of Tata, on his instructions, Singh was invited to join the Tata Sons board in 2013.

Meanwhile, former defence secretary Vijay Singh denied Cyrus Mistry’s allegation, saying AgustaWestland acquisition was approved by the Cabinet after his retirement, reports PTI.