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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has found evidence against former Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi that suggests he extended favours to the UK-based AgustaWestland (AW) by changing specification requirements for the VVIP choppers. The agency today registered a first information report (FIR) against Tyagi, besides 12 others.
In its FIR, CBI also included two top IDS officials — CEO Satish Bagrodia (brother of former Union minister Santosh Bagrodia), and MD Pratap Agarwal — who had not been named in its preliminary inquiry.
The agency today conducted raids across 14 locations in Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Mohali, including the homes of Tyagi and his cousins and offices of the accused companies. It lodged cases of criminal conspiracy and cheating against all the accused under Section 120-B and 420 of the Indian Penal Code.
CBI’s preliminary inquiry had revealed Guido Ralph Haschke, a middleman in the chopper deal, had entered into several consultancy contracts with AW through his Tunisia-based company Gordian Services Sarl. Between June 2004 and March 2005, he made two remittances — of Euro 126,000 and Euro 200,000 — in close succession, to Tyagi brothers, in the name of “consultancy contracts”. CBI has alleged the Tyagis received an unquantified amount from Haschke and another middleman, Carlo Gerosa.
Besides, CBI is probing a commission of Euro 30 million paid by AW to a third middleman, Christian Michel. It suspects this money was used to pay bribes to Indian nationals to swing the deal in the company’s favour. It has alleged Tyagi brought down the altitude requirement from 18,000 feet to 15,000 feet to make AW eligible for the contract.
CBI would soon start questioning the accused. No arrests are likely anytime soon but such a possibility might arise if an accused does not cooperate in the process of questioning.
TAKING THE WIND OUT OF AW’S SAIL
Companies and people named in CBI’s FIR
Companies
- Finmeccanica, Italy
- AgustaWestland, UK
- IDS, Tunisia
- Infotech Design System (IDS), Mauritius
- IDS Infotech, Mohali
- Aeromatrix Info, Chandigarh
- S P Tyagi: Former IAF chief
- Sanjeev, Rajeev, Sandeep Tyagi: S P Tyagi’s cousins
- Giuseppe Orsi: Former chairman, Finmeccanica
- Bruno Spagnolini: Former CEO, AgustaWestland
- Carlo Garosa, Christian Michel, Guido Haschkhe: European middlemen
- Pratap Aggarwal: MD, IDS Infotech
- Praveen Bakshi: Aeromatrix CEO
- Gautam Khaitan: Formerly associated with Aeromatrix
- Satish Bagrodia: Brother of former minister Santosh Bagrodia
