VVIP chopper case: CBI seeks sanction to prosecute former CAG Shashi Kant Sharma

The CBI has sought the Ministry of Defence's sanction to prosecute former Comptroller and General Shashi Kant Sharma and former Air Vice Marshal Jasbir Singh Panesar in connection with the multi-crore AgustaWestland chopper scam.

Officials said the Ministry has been approached for permission to take action against Sharma and Panesar as well as three others -- deputy chief test pilot SA Kunte, Wing Commander Thomas Mathew, and Group Captain N Santosh, who all have retired from service.

They said during investigations, it has come to light the involvement of these people and after getting sanction, these five persons will be named in a supplementary chargesheet.

The case pertains to giving Rs 362 crore in bribes for obtaining the Rs 3,600 crore contract for the purchase of 12 VVIP choppers for the use of the President, the Prime Minister and other VIPs. The Manmohan Singh government had signed the deal in 2007 but was cancelled six years later after allegations of corruption surfaced.

The CBI had taken over the case in 2016 and had filed its first chargesheet against former Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi and others, charging them with taking bribes to alter the specifications to suit AgustaWestland.

Sharma was Joint Secretary (Air) in the Ministry of Defence between 2003 and 2007. He had initiated the purchase of the VVIP choppers as Joint Secretary (Air) and later in 2010, he approved it in the capacity as Director General (Defence Acquisition). Later, Sharma became Defence Secretary and in 2013, he was appointed CAG.

A reference to JS Air in a note prepared by Christian Michel, one of the three middlemen in the case who was arrested by the CBI in 2017, had repeatedly been referred to in judgements in Italian courts, which had looked into the matter.

Sharma's role as Joint Secretary (Air) is the reason why the agency wants sanction to prosecute him, officials said. Panesar and other officials are under the radar because of their roles in purchase and testing of the choppers.

A supplementary chargesheet will be filed soon after the CBI gets sanction from the Ministry, CBI officials said.

CBI had earlier arrested former Air chief Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev and lawyer Gautam Khaitan among others in the case. In its first chargesheet, it had named the Tyagis, Khaitan, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini, former Finmeccanica chairman Giuseppe Orsi, Michel and his two associates Guido Ralph Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.