Agusta: Ex-IAF chief admits to have financial interest in 3 firms

New Delhi, May 3

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is grilling former IAF chief SP Tyagi in connection with the AgustaWestland case, today said that he has admitted to have financial interest in three companies —Banshi, Anuras and Shavan — involved in the controversial Rs 3,600 crore chopper deal.

The agency further stated that Tyagi has accepted that he met COO of Finmeccanica Zapa in 2005 in India.

The chopper deal will be discussed in Lok Sabha on May 6, and in Rajya Sabha on May 4, Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said on Tuesday.

This comes after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said he would put details of the suspected corruption and supporting documents before Parliament on May 4.

Meanwhile, the intelligence agency also said the former IAF chief and his wife are the owners of the three companies in addition to a fourth company — Meghanshu — and added that all the four companies are based in Noida.

According to CBI sources, the agency is looking into Tyagi's international trips especially after his retirement.

The CBI has called Tyagi for questioning again tomorrow.

The investigating agency has alleged that the reduction of the service ceiling, maximum height at which a helicopter can perform normally, allowed the UK-based firm to get into the fray as otherwise its helicopters were not even qualified for submission of bids.

Tyagi has so far denied the allegations levelled against him and claimed that the decision to reduce the ceiling was taken by a group of senior officials.

The former IAF chief has also been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with this case.

The Enforcement Directorate, which is also likely to summon the former IAF chief's cousins for questioning on May 6, is likely to grill Tyagi as part of its money laundering probe on the chopper deal a day before.

CBI sources said the agency called Gautam Khaitan, former board member of Aeromatrix, one of the suspect in the case, for questioning on Wednesday while Tyagi cousins — Sanjeev, Rajeev and Sandeep — have been called later this week.

It is alleged by Italian prosecutors that bribes to clinch the deal were paid through middlemen and routed through a consultancy contract between AgustaWestland and companies owned by middlemen.

Khaitan and the Tyagi cousins have strongly refuted the allegations against them.

Last year, the CBI estimated that European businessmen James, Gerosa and Haschke had paid some 58 million euros (Rs 423 crore) to have a deal to buy 12 advance helicopters for Indian VVIPs manipulated in favour of AgustaWestland, a UK subsidiary of an Italian company, Finmeccanica.

Sanjeev alias Julie, Rajeev alias Docsa and Sandeep were accused of accepting bribes of Rs 10.5 million euros (Rs 7.68 crore) from some middlemen in two installments — first through bank transfers and then through cash. 

The deal was cancelled due to allegations of corruption.    

Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica’s former chief Giuseppe Orsi was recently sentenced by the Milan appeals court to 4.5 years in jail for false accounting and corruption over the sale of 12 VVIP choppers to India for Rs 3,600 crore.

The court also sentenced Bruno Spagnolini, former CEO of Finmeccanica’s helicopter subsidiary AgustaWestland, to four years in jail. 

The Italian court is believed to said that the firm, Gandhi, some close aides, Singh and Narayan had actively lobbied to seal the deal.

The court is also believed to have quoted a middleman has having mentioned Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel and Tyagi in the judgement. — Agencies