CBI seeks sanction to prosecute ex-CAG in Agusta case

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, September 11

The CBI has sought prosecution sanction from the government against former Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, who later took over as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), for his alleged involvement in the Rs 3,600-crore Agusta Westland VVIP chopper scandal.

Sources said the CBI was ready with the supplementary chargesheet to be filed in the court. The agency had sent the request to the government for “prosecution sanction in March”. It was still awaiting a nod, they said.

In the supplementary chargesheet, the CBI would elaborate on the role of Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the deal who was deported from the UAE and is currently in judicial custody.

Since the chargesheet also contains details on the alleged role of some former public servants, who were holding key decision-making positions when the deal was being discussed, the CBI has approached the Ministry of Defence for an approval to prosecute Sharma, then Air Vice Marshal Jasbir Singh Panesar and others.

The agency has also sought sanction to chargesheet three former IAF officers — deputy chief test pilot SA Kunte, Wing Commander Thomas Mathew and Group Captain N Santosh. Kunte and Santosh retired as Air Commodores.

They sources said it was alleged in the chargesheet that bribes were paid to make Agusta Westland eligible for the 12 VVIP chopper deal, adding that the bribe money was allegedly routed through companies of Michel and an advocate, Gautam Khaitan, in the form of multiple contracts through layered transactions.