VVIP Chopper deal: CBI set to name ex-IAF chief SP Tyagi in FIR

[Daredevil]

New Delhi: In a huge setback for former Indian Air Force (IAF) Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is all set to file an FIR against him under sections of cheating and bribery in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal. CBI officials believe that Air Chief Marshal (retd) SP Tyagi accepted a bribe from his cousins to help AgustaWestland's entry into the tender process to supply 12 VVIP helicopter to India.

Sources say SP Tyagi's cousins - Sanjeev and Docsa Tyagi - were involved in defence deals in India and not power projects as they have been claiming. Sources says kickbacks were paid to the Tyagi brothers through fake engineering contracts in Mauritius and Tunisia

Lawyer Gautam Khaitan and businessman Parveen Bakshi of Aeromatrix allegedly routed bribe money to the Tyagis, say sources. They also say that during interrogation, SP Tyagi named late Brajesh Mishra and the Special Protection Group (SPG) for recommending change in tender conditions. Sources add that Tyagi, his cousins, Gautam Khaitan and Parveen Bakshi will be booked under charges of cheating and bribery.

CBI believes that ACM(retd) SP Tyagi accepted a bribe from his cousins to help AgustaWestland's entry into the tender process.

Sources say that former SPG chief and present Goa Governor Bharat Vir Wanchoo is also under the scanner and the money trail has been tracked. Alleged middlemen Guido Haschke and former Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi are allegedly responsible for giving bribes to the Tyagi brothers.

Sources say that the CBI is basing its investigations on the Italian probe report into the Finmeccanica deal. Alleged middleman Haschke has confessed to the police to have met SP Tyagi six-seven times.

However, Tyagi has denied meeting Haschke. Another alleged middleman Christian Michel allegedly promised to transfer 'huge amount of money' through Tyagi cousins to SP Tyagi.

The allegations against the Tyagi cousins - Juli, Docsa and Sandeep - are also based on the Italian probe report. Haschke and Gerosa were allegedly commissioned specifically to use the brothers to help swing the deal and 400,000 Euros were paid as commission to each middleman, out of which 100,000 Euros allegedly went to the Tyagis.

The FIR will also include names of Gautam Khaitan - former Director of Aeromatrix and the company's head Praveen Bakshi - both already questioned by the CBI. Both names figure prominently in conversations between Haschke and Gerosa - recorded by the Italian police. CNN-IBN has exclusively accessed excerpts of those conversations.

An excerpts of the conversations:

Gerosa: ...(unclear) its enough that they say: I receive orders, that ...(unclear), I receive orders from (unclear)... there in India, this we can't say openly to Gautam however

Haschke: No but he knows it very well. His presence is not negotiable. The orders of recycling we give them to him but the recycling is done by him. We are really a group dedicated to criminal ends.

Gerosa: You won't block the discourse on the other issue? (unclear)

Haschke: Yes, that's what I thought. Because if Gautam fears that Aeromatrix will get involved, he already told me, have you heard or not, Praveen is already nicely agitated?

Who are the people they take orders from, still remains a mystery. The conversations later on also categorically talk about money transfers through Tunisia to Bakshi and Khaitan who will now find themselves named in the CBI FIR.

Going by the track record of CBI in defence kick back cases, we will have to wait to see if this probe leads to proof. The past probes have not led to much revelations.

AgustaWestland deal: CBI set to name ex-IAF chief SP Tyagi in FIR - India - IBNLive

 

[nrj]

So a big black blot of shame on the position of Air Chief. How immoral of Tyagi to name Brajesh Mishra? Goa governor Wanchoo is a compromised person, I can confirm that.

 

[Daredevil]

Yeah, its a big blow to the position of IAF Chief. More and more armed forces personnel ar geting caught in bribery scandals or for spying for the enemy

 

[Daredevil]

Mauritius company at centre of money trail

A complex web of companies and consulting firms spread across three countries has emerged as the route through which alleged kickbacks worth over 20 million euros for the VVIP chopper contract were distributed by the middlemen, with a Mauritius company emerging as the node through which most payments were made.

The probe into payments made by chopper firm AgustaWestland to Swiss-based middlemen Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa has led to a company registered in Port Louis, named Interstellar Technologies Limited, that Italian investigators say was used to route most of the payments to India, Switzerland, Singapore and Liechtenstein for allegedly bribing public officials and politicians among others.

While the CBI has named only two companies in its preliminary inquiry — IDS and Aeromatrix that received dubious engineering contracts from the chopper company — it may need to move fast on tracking Interstellar as the company is marked as being in the process of winding up, according to the companies registry of Mauritius.

A new investigation report from Italy reveals that a money chain has been established that brings out the route through which the middlemen managed to divert cash from the engineering contracts that they bagged from AgustaWestland.

While the company has consistently denied that it hired middlemen for the deal, here is how investigators believe the money was laundered to India and other nations:

* AW made payments worth a total of 19.227 million euros, as of April 16, 2012, to IDS Tunisia through the Arab Banking Corporation. The payments were meant for engineering services for AW129 and AW149 helicopters that were to be performed by Chandigarh-based Aeromatrix.

However, there are no records of actual work done corresponding to the payments made. In fact, investigators have recorded Haschke and Gerosa as worrying that if Indian investigators go into Aeromatrix's records of the past three years, they will find that the number of employees and the work done is minuscule compared to the payments made. As reported by The Indian Express in February, the duo discussed how the company can hire more engineers and make them "do nothing" to cloak the payments.

* While a small part of the 19.227 million euros received by IDS Tunisia was given to Aeromatrix — estimated to be under 5 million euros — to keep the company running as a legitimate front, most of the payments from Tunisia were remitted to Mauritius-based Interstellar Technologies Ltd.

The payments were made on the basis of invoices for "fictitious consultancies". Investigators say that the partners who own Interstellar are "the three Tyagi brothers, Haschke and Gerosa and partially lawyer Gautam Khaitan".

* From Interstellar, the money was sent by an "administrator" named Hedi Kammoun, to another Mauritius-based company, Infotech Design Systems Ltd, which is listed as a major shareholder in Aeromatrix. This company is currently marked as "active" and was incorporated on July 1, 2009. It shares the same address in Port Louis as Interstellar.

* From Infotech, the money was divided into several batches and remitted to another web of companies including Incrust Infotechno Solutions, Aerometrix Info Solutions (possibly different from Aeromatrix) and Gadit Sa. Investigators say that money was then transferred through multi-layered transactions to companies in India, Switzerland, Singapore and Liechtenstein.

Italian investigators believe "it is evident that Interstellar is the means for the laundering and that Gautam Khaitan, and/ or somebody else on his behalf, uses it to transfer the money, also through further bank and financial transfers to other shell companies, before it reaches the actual beneficiaries".

Italian investigators in their report have identified people to whom money was paid at the final end. The report says that payments were mostly paid in cash and among the recipients were the Tyagi brothers, Paolo Girasole (India head of Finmeccanica), Fava Luciano (Alenia Aeronautica India head) and others.

"Payments to Indian public officials and other people, it is believed, were made in cash, so that no trace is left and links cannot be made," the report notes. However, the investigations have not gone into the Indian side of the payments in detail, partly as they do not have the jurisdiction to investigate in India and did not get access to any of the key Indian players. The CBI too may have only a small window to extract information, given that Interstellar — the alleged key to the entire nexus — is in the process of being shut down.

Mauritius company at centre of money trail - Indian Express

 

[Sam2012]

After 3-4 years what will happen to this case ?

 

[sesha_maruthi27]

'Former Air Chief Tyagi alone did not clear VVIP chopper deal'

New Delhi:
Although the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named former Air Chief SP Tyagi, his cousins and some others for conspiring to award the VVIP contract to AgustaWestland, a detailed investigation by NDTV has revealed that Air Chief Marshal Tyagi wasn't alone in identifying and finalising the Italian Company's name for supply of 12 VVIP helicopters to India.

Several top officials including the then National Security Advisor (NSA) MK Narayanan (now Governor of West Bengal), then Special Protection Group (SPG) Chief BV Wanchoo (now Governor of Goa), then Defence Secretary Ajai Vikram Singh and current Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma, who was then Joint Secretary (air), were all involved in deciding the specifications that allowed AgustaWestland to enter the competition.

A series of at least half a dozen meetings between November 2004 and September 2006 were held at the highest level in the government involving the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Ministry of Defence (MoD), Representatives of the SPG and the Indian Air Force (IAF) before specifications and technical requirements for procuring the VVIP helicopters were finalised and then a Request for Proposal (RFP) issued. Decisions taken in these meetings in fact allowed AgustaWestland to enter the competition post-2006, our investigations show. Here's a detailed account of how the case progressed and how at each stage, every stake holder was involved and how each of them concurred with a collegiate decision.

November 8, 2004
Defence Secretary Ajai Vikram Singh holds a meeting attended by Deputy Chief of IAF, Additional Secretary (Acquisition), Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager (air), SK Sharma (current Defence Secretary), OSD, PMO, Director PMO, IGP, SPG among others.

SK Sharma informs the meeting that "Air HQ had reviewed the OR (operational requirement) pertaining to mandatory service ceiling of 6,000 metres and came to the conclusion that it would not be feasible to reduce the service ceiling to 4,500 m, as with 4500 m altitude the helicopter would land only at altitudes that were substantially lower. Air HQ advised that it would not be prudent to change the mandatory OR of service from 6,000 metres to 4500 metres."

In response to the Air HQ stand, the PMO representative referred to earlier minutes of the meeting held in the PMO and stated that previous VVIP movements had not exceeded 4500 metres, and hence relevance of 6000 metres as the service ceiling altitude was not clear. He also stated that the views of the PMO were not obtained while finalising the ORs and the aim was to have wider competition for procurement.

So the meeting decided that the PMO would give a list of requirements on the aspects relating to safety, security and comfort of VVIPs and also confirmation on the specific need for 6000 metres ceiling, that is use of helicopters at high altitude.

March 1, 2005
NSA MK Narayanan chairs a meeting with Defence Secretary, Secretary (security), Director IB, Director SPG and Deputy Air Chief.

The meeting agrees to the following:

"¢ Since the proposal is to procure helicopters to replace existing Mi-8 helicopters, the ORs should broadly conform to the parameters of Mi-8 which was the most widely used VVIP chopper at that time (This meant the altitude ceiling of 4500 metres was acceptable to PMO since Mi-8's reach was only upto that altitude).
"¢ Defence Secretary would convening a meeting with participation of IAF, SPG, Secretary (security) to draw up the operational specifications for the VVIP helicopters in light of the above.
"¢ A single vendor situation should be avoided.

March 7, 2005
Then Deputy Air Chief convenes a meeting at Air HQ attended by Director SPG, JS and AM (Air), IG, SPG among others. All ORs are deliberated during the meeting.

Point eight of the minutes of the meeting says for instance notes: "The earlier OR of 6 km altitude and performance required at 5 km had been reduced to 4.5 km and 2 km respectively to avoid single vendor situation. Both were accepted as mandatory ORs." In words, every stake holder agreed to the revised ORs.

March 14, 2005
The revised ORs are approved by the Air Chief, Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi.

The Deputy Air Chief forwards the finalised ORs approved by ACM Tyagi to Special Secretary (Acquisition). The Deputy Chief also writes: "It is felt that with the finalised ORs, a single vendor situation will be avoided." (This is conformity with the PMO's insistence to avoid single vendor situation)

April 1, 2005
Revised ORs are presented to Defence Secretary.

April 15, 2005
Based on discussions with Defence Secretary on the revised ORs, IAF's Assistant Chief of Air Staff , ACAS(plans) forwards the amended ORs to the Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager (Air) (in this case SK Sharma, the current Defence Secretary) stating: "The ORs have now been made specific, to minimise subjectivity."

May 9, 2005
Defence Secretary chairs meeting of all stake holders (Secretary Security, Deputy Air Chief, Joint Secretary Air, IG, SPG among others) and each Operational requirement including altitude, cabin height, security and communication is discussed.

October 7, 2005
Deputy Air Chief director SPG, JS (Air) among others decided to increase number of helicopters from 8 to 12 for operational and security requirements.

With the ORs now locked, further discussions take another 11 months before the MoD finally issues RFP.

September 27, 2006
Request for proposal for acquiring 12 VVIP helicopters issued. Three companies including AgustaWestland respond.

Three companies -- makers of Mi-172, Sikorsky which made the S-92 helicopters and Augusta Westland's AWA101 -- responded to the RFP.

Meanwhile the MoD had put in place a new concept -- the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) -- which lays down stringent rules and regulations. Under the DPP all companies that bid for contracts above 100 crore rupees have to sign an integrity pact which binds the companies to give an undertaking that no bribes would be paid or agents would be used in the contracts.

The Russian company that makes Mi-172 withdrew from the competition at an early stage refusing to sign the integrity contract!

That left AgustaWestland and Sikorsky in the race. By now this was late 2007.

The evaluations and trials of S-92 and AW101 began and continued over the next couple of years (2008-09). According to Air Force sources S-92 was found to be non-compliant on four counts:


1. It could not reach 15000 feet without maximum power
2. Its 'hover out of ground effect' wasn't sufficient
3. Its drift down altitude was not meeting the requirement
4. Missile airborne warning system wasn't up to the mark

AgustaWestland with its three engines was a bonus, according to Air Force test pilots since one engine failure still meant it had two to fall back upon.

Sometime in 2009, Air HQ sent its recommendation to the Defence Ministry and after going through all the stringent financial and technical requirements mandatory under the DPP, a contract was signed in February 2010.

'Former Air Chief Tyagi alone did not clear VVIP chopper deal' | NDTV.com

 

[sob]

The problem does not lie with the change in parameters. Whichever copter would have been chosen there would have been bribes being paid. This is the system under which deals are made in our country.

The opaque manner in which the deals are finalised and the long time ( years ) is all very conducive for all manners of hanky panky. I have had the occasion to meet the air Chief socially on a couple of social occasions, once when he was the Chief and more recently last month after the scandal had broken out. All I can say that he is the convenient scapegoat. The most he is guilty of having such cousins who have taken advantage of his position. He should have been more careful.

 

[Daredevil]

Helicopter deal was tainted, says Antony

IANS

Defence Minister A.K. Antony Monday confirmed that corruption had taken place in the controversial helicopter deal with Italian company AgustaWestland. He added that a new defence procurement policy would soon be ready.

"Yes, corruption has taken place in the helicopter deal and bribes have been taken. The CBI is pursuing the case very vigorously," Antony told reporters here.

As soon reports first surfaced of alleged corruption in the deal, the defence ministry ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation to probe if kickbacks were paid to Indian middlemen in the Rs.3,700-crore deal to buy 12 high-security VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland.

"Please wait for some more time, and there is no doubt very strict action would be taken against those who are involved," Antony said, adding that a new defence procurement policy would be announced very shortly.

"We have been emphasising on indigenisation in defence procurement and the new policy preparation has reached the final stages, and will spell out all such things," Antony said.

 

[Daredevil]

Chopper scam: SP Tyagi was indeed bribed, CBI report says

NEW DELHI: The CBI's initial investigations into the AgustaWestland scam has found that former IAF chief SP Tyagi was indeed bribed by middlemen around the same time - 2004-2005 - that his cousins were given money, highly placed sources said.

However, the bribe amount remains "unquantified" and CBI is also yet to find the trail of this money but the agency suspects that one of the middlemen of Finmeccanica brought the money to India. CBI sources said they will soon start questioning the accused people in the case after all the documents are analyzed.

Meanwhile, CBI has reportedly shared crucial documents with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) showing money trail of the alleged Rs 362 crore kickback in the VVIP chopper deal.

Officials said they had found several documents showing money paid to Tyagi's cousins and they had to get hold of some bank papers. The agency has found that 1.26 lakh euros and another 2 lakh euros was paid to the Tyagi brothers (Julie, Docsa and Sandeep Tyagi) sometime in 2004, much before SP Tyagi became the IAF chief.

The Tyagis had claimed during questioning that this money was given to them by Guido Haschke as consultancy fee for some subsidiary of AgustaWestland, for which they provided their services. Subsequently, there was another transfer of 5.6 million euros to IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix, which came to the Tyagi brothers.

CBI sources said "there was another 30 million euros which was brought by Christian Michael to India, which is believed to be the part from where money could have been sent to SP Tyagi". However, the agency is not sure about the route of money to SP Tyagi yet. "Most of the money was in cash except a few transfers. We are trying to figure out if money was given in cash to SP Tyagi or if it was invested somewhere in property or stashed in a bank," a source said.

The agency had booked 13 persons including SP Tyagi, Satish Bagrodia (brother of former minister Santosh Bagrodia) and others in an FIR registered earlier this week. CBI has alleged that during the tenure of SP Tyagi and "with his approval", the IAF "conceded to reduce the service ceiling for VVIP helicopters from 6000 meters to 4500 meters as mandatory to which it was opposing vehemently on the grounds of security constraints and other related reasons earlier," agency sources said.

Chopper scam: SP Tyagi was indeed bribed, CBI report says - The Times of India

 

[U Sun Dar]

n the ongoing investigation of bribery and corruption in the VVIP helicopter deal, the Central Bureau of Investigation, or CBI, appears to have made up its mind that the then Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, was instrumental in swinging the deal in favour of AgustaWestland.

News reports attributed to CBI sources imply that technical requirements were tweaked by the then air chief to enable the Italian helicopter AW101 to emerge as the winner in the contested deal.

As was to be expected, the Indian media, especially electronic - went hoarse in the throat and wild in gestures - and continues to do so - to expose the erstwhile chief without bothering to look at the whole episode in a holistic and professional manner. Whether guilty or not, in the eyes of the nation, he is already damned.

There are two major aspects of the 'deal' which need to be probed thoroughly before arriving at any conclusion. One, whether the erstwhile chief could and/or did influence the laying down of the SQRs (Service Qualifying Requirements) to enable the selection of any particular helicopter. And, two, whether there was a case of illegal transaction of money favouring some middlemen and individuals who claimed to have the wherewithal to swing the deal in a particular direction.

Allegations have indeed emerged in Italy that Italian/ European businessmen raised bribe money and paid it to top officials of Finmeccanica, the company which owns the British AgustaWestland, and some Indian businessmen. A probe is on in Europe based on communication intercepts and accounting paperwork the middlemen had prepared for their own requirements.

Soon after the scandal broke out, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MOD) issued a Fact Sheet on February 14, 2013 on the chronology of the important procedural milestones of the deal. The MOD deserves credit for not hiding behind the fa�ade of secrecy and putting the facts in public domain, but where it failed was to assure the people that its defence procurement systems are robust enough not to be influenced by any one individual irrespective of the rank or status he may wield.

In the midst of all the cacophonous accusations hitting the ceiling was just a lone voice of sanity, that of former defence and external affairs minister Jaswant Singh, when he remarked:, "We should not make wild allegations against a former air chief. It is not in the interest of both the Air Force and the country. The probe is on. Let's wait."

A distinguished soldier and an able statesman, he understood well the destruction such media hype can cause to the very fabric of the armed forces.Nonetheless, due to the media trial, MOD referred the case to CBI, the country's prime investigating agency.

At this stage, it would perhaps be prudent to chronologically look at the various events as revealed by the MOD fact sheet which finally led to the selection of the AW101 as the helicopter of choice for induction into the IAF. It reveals that an acquisition process for VVIP helicopters commenced in March 2002 and culminated in the EC-225 of M/S Eurocopter being found the sole helicopter suitable for acquisition, after flight evaluation of the three out of the four vendors who had responded to the RFP.

At that time, the EH-101 (or AW101) of AgustaWestland, or any other VIP helicopter (barring the EC-225), was not certified for an altitude of 6,000 meters.

In November 2003, the then National Security Advisor (NSA) and the principal secretary to the prime minister convened a meeting voicing concern that the mandatory requirements stipulated by the IAF had resulted in a single vendor situation. It was also noted that the prime minister and president have rarely made visits to places located beyond 4,500 meter altitude.

The meeting decided to modify the mandatory altitude requirement to 4.5 km whilst leaving the 6 km altitude to be desirable. Security officials from the Special Protection Group (SPG) that guards the VVIPs asked for a minimum cabin height of 1.8 metre to facilitate rescue movement in case of an emergency. Notably, police and intelligence officials protecting the VVIPs are generally tall. SPG is controlled by the PMO (Prime Minister's Office).

In the words of the MOD, "In pursuance of the above directive, the ORs (Operational Requirements) were deliberated at length between the NSA, SPG/PMO, MOD and the IAF between March, 2005 and September, 2006 and the above-mentioned changes were incorporated."

In addition, after further deliberations between the aforesaid agencies the quantity of helicopters proposed for procurement was revised from 8 to 12 by adding 4 helicopters in non-VIP configuration for security reasons. IAF's VIP Squadron has had 8 helicopters generally.

It seems clear that the newly introduced cabin height parameter of 1.8 metre becoming a mandatory requirement could have played a major role forcing Eurocopter to leave the scene without responding to the new RFP issued on September 27, 2006.

While chronicling the various steps till the conclusion of contract awarded to AgustaWestland on January 18, 2010, the MOD insists that the procurement case was progressed in accordance with established procurement procedure with all stages of procurement being followed meticulously, it is silent on whether the entire SQR process was revisited as per the procurement procedure.

It is obvious that critics have homed on to this lack of information to base their speculations that the process was misused by someone to select a 'favoured' vendor. The media, and the CBI, seem to have lost no time in latching on to the erstwhile chief, during whose tenure the revised RFP was issued, to be the man responsible for tweaking the SQRs/ORs for pecuniary gains.

But, without overly commenting on the cumbersomeness of the defence procurement procedure, what stands out clearly is that no single individual can influence the outcome of a defence deal on his/her own.

India Strategic has had some access to the documents showing how the new SQRs were debated in a final meeting, held before the issuance of the revised RFP. It is clear that all the new parameters were agreed to unanimously - one by one - by the representatives of all the agencies mentioned earlier, and that while IAF was represented by top officers at this meeting, the air chief himself was not there.

Simply put, the decision was collective, unanimous, and signed by each participant in agreement.

The new parameters included the minimum cabin height of 1.8 metre (propagated by the SPG for security reasons), a drift-down down altitude with one engine inoperative of not less than 1,500 metres (for reasons of VVIP safety) and, of course the earlier agreed to lower service ceiling of 4,500 meters, among others.

After the Field Evaluation Trials that followed, the Staff Evaluation Report concluded that only AW101 helicopter was fully compliant with all SQRs based on which, AgustaWestland was finally awarded the contract to supply 12 (8 VVIP-configured and 4 non-VVIP) AW101 helicopters to the IAF at a negotiated price of Euro 556.262 million.

It may also be kept in mind that similar trials in the US also had led to the selection of AW 101 just around then.

Now that a bribery scandal connected with the deal has broken out, everyone seems to be baying for the blood of a lone individual, as also for outright cancellation of the VVIP helicopter deal. In the opinion of the writer, it is nothing but a knee-jerk reaction on both counts.

As brought out in the March Edition of India Strategic, it would be foolhardy to cancel the entire contract at this advanced stage of execution. The quality of the helicopter should be kept in mind which undoubtedly crowns it to be the top-notch helicopter in the world for VVIP travel.

And, while all possible penalties should be levied on the errant company as per the provisions of the contract, blacklisting of the companies, as India has been doing, will prove to be counter-productive to the much-needed, ongoing and massive modernisation programmes of the armed forces.

Similarly, singling out one particular individual for the entire selection process could prove to be counter-productive.

The investigating agencies need to do the right thing by getting to the bottom of the case and bring to book anyone and everyone involved, but not on the basis of knee-jerk reactions and media trials.

The investigation should not end up by destroying the reputation and morale of only the services and servicemen, while the real arms agents move on to the next deal and the real perpetrators and hidden beneficiaries continue to flourish as usual.

(26.04.2013 - Air Marshal (retd) Jimmy Bhatia, a former head of the IAF's Western Command, is managing editor of India Strategic defence magazine. The views expressed are personal and not of IANS. He can be contacted at [email protected])

 

[AVERAGE INDIAN]

VVIP chopper scam: Defence Ministry hands over Italian court documents to CBI

The Indian Defence Ministry has handed over some documents received from an Italian court to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to verify if there was any breach of contractual obligations by Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland in the Rs.3,600 crore deal for 12 helicopters, official sources said on Wednesday.

If the CBI finds there was any breach of contractual obligation, the ministry will move towards termination of the contract even before the investigative agency files its report in the case, the sources told PTI in New Delhi.

The documents were received after a high-level team headed by Director General (Acquisition) went to Italy recently to study the evidences and documents provided by the government there in the Rs.362 crore VVIP chopper scam, they said.

India has been given access to the evidence in the case after it was made a party in the ongoing trials in Italy in the chopper scam.

The government has told the court there that its decisions would not be binding and it would reserve the right to seek all possible legal remedies available to it in this country.

A Joint Secretary-level officer from the Defence Ministry is already in Milan to attend the second hearing of the case scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday).

The Italian court in Milan began its trial on June 19 in the Rs.362-crore scam into the procurement of the VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland at a cost of Rs.3,600 crore in 2010.

Defence Minister A K Antony has already issued a show cause notice to the firm asking why its contract should not be cancelled in view of the charges levelled against it in Italy.

Former CEOs of Finmeccanica and AgustaWestland were arrested in February in connection with the case and are being tried by the Italian authorities there.


Read more at: VVIP chopper scam: Defence Ministry hands over Italian court documents to CBI : North, News - India Today

 

[AVERAGE INDIAN]

Chopper scam: Commission divided with Tyagi brothers, key middleman tells Italian court

Days after it denied to have violated any contractual obligations in Rs 3,600 crore deal with India for the supply of 12 VVIP choppers, a key middleman in murky chopper deal has claimed that he knew in advance about the change in the qualitative requirements of the contract and that the plan was to divide a commission of 7 per cent with the three "Tyagi brothers" — cousins of then Air Chief SP Tyagi, an Indian Express report says.

The report further said, responding to questions in court in Busto Arsizio in Italy on Monday, Guido Haschke, a Swiss businessman who is one of the main accused in the case, claimed he knew the Tyagi brothers — Julie, Docsa and Sandeep — well and that he helped set up a key meeting between an AgustaWestland official and SP Tyagi to discuss the contract through these connections.

Monday was the first day of his questioning in court and he is to be quizzed again on December 6.

After meeting with Defence Ministry officials, the company had in the month of October issued a statement saying it has nominated former Supreme Court Judge BN Srikrishna for arbitration with the Defence Ministry.

The officials of AgustaWestland including its top executives in Italy denied any wrong doing on the part of the firm in the chopper deal, defence officials said.

The Defence Ministry was represented by Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager (Air) Upamanyu Chatterjee along with other officials at the meeting, they said.

The firm had said in a statement that, "AgustaWestland denies all allegations of violation of the pre-contract integrity pact and the contract. We will deliver the formal written response to the exceptions raised by the Indian Defence Ministry."

The Ministry's stand on the issue came after Defence Minister AK Antony's assertion that the firm had violated contractual obligations, for which the Government had initiated action against it.

On the arbitration process initiated by the firm, Defence Ministry has taken a stand that it does not apply to the pre-contract integrity pact, which is signed by the Ministry with its vendors.

Chopper scam: Commission divided with Tyagi brothers, key middleman tells Italian court | Niti Central

 

[pkroyal]

Shameful to say the least !

Increasingly many are selling their soul for" 13 pcs of gold"

Who is to be trusted ?

Who symbolizes personal integrity ?

Only men of straw ?

I am positive that "real men " exist, hidden somewhere in the labyrinthine layers of our society, unsung, unheard ,an occasional hero but few in numbers, waiting forever for a place in the Sun.

their friends & supporters telling them that " such are the cruel ways of destiny"

 

[Ray]

Nothing to be ashamed of if the bloke lined his pocket.

What one should be ashamed of is the manner in which the politicians & bureaucrat have been able to encourage the military to join their bandwagon!

 

[pkroyal]

Even if ACM SP Tyagi emerges as the fall guy,
too bad for him !!
Many Q's are unanswered?
What were the three cousins of the chief along with dealers doing in his office in Vayu Sena Bhawan.( their gate entry's are on record))
At whose prodding were the GSQR tweaked.
Who got Rs 07 Crore in cash in Delhi.

Let the ACM sing to save himself and the reputation of the services.

 

[arnabmit]

Chopper scam: Middleman Guido Haschke admits links with SP Tyagi family | Firstpost

 

[rugved]

Shouldn't this topic be in the Politics & Society section?

 

[TrueSpirit1]

With ACM Tyagi, there falls the last surviving preserve of probity & virtue in the Indian society. Many young officers are immensely demoralized.

 

[feathers]

Tyagi's cousins again under CBI scanner in chopper case - The Hindu

The three cousins of retired Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi are being examined again by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection after Guido Ralph Haschke, one of the three alleged middlemen in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal being tried in an Italian court, said that funds were paid to "the family."

For their part, the former Air chief and his cousins, Julie, Docsa and Sandeep, have denied their involvement in the deal. Mr. Haschke recently told the Italian court that another alleged middleman, Christian Michel, explained to him in 2008 the financial provisioning according to which 14 to 15 million euros were allegedly to be paid to Mr. Tyagi's family.

"However, he has not clarified whether the money was to be paid for the VVIP chopper deal or under some other contract. We have to ascertain for what exactly the funds were allocated to the Tyagis and whether the amount was indeed transferred to them," said a CBI official.

During recent court proceedings, the Italian prosecutors presented some notes seized from Mr. Haschke's office indicating that 6 million euros were allegedly paid to "pol [politicians]," 8.4 million to "bur [bureaucrats]" and 6 million to some Indian "Air Force (Af)" officials. The notes were allegedly written in early 2008 at the London office of Mr. Michel, as disclosed by Mr. Haschke.

 

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Agustawestland Scam: Italian Court Rules No Corruption By Chief SP Tyagi

Published on Jun 25, 2015, India Today