A special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday allowed Shivani Saxena, an accused in the AgustaWestland scam, to travel abroad for 15 days, reported ANI.
In her application, Saxena said she needed to go to Dubai on January 14 for business purposes and will be back in India on January 29.
Saxena is the director of UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings in Dubai. During the hearing on Wednesday, the Enforcement Directorate had argued that Saxena may not return for the trials if she was granted permission to go abroad. The agency added that there were also chances of further diversion of funds.
The AgustaWestland helicopter deal is related to an agreement India got into in 2010 to buy 12 helicopters from the Italian firm. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government was in power at the time. The CBI had said the deal was worth Rs 3,767 crore, of which 12% was paid in bribes.
In September 2017, the Enforcement Directorate had filed a second supplementary chargesheet before a special CBI court against Saxena. The ED filed the chargesheet under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
On December 9, 2016, the investigative agency had arrested former Air Force chief SP Tyagi and two others for allegedly accepting kickbacks to influence the purchase of the 12 VVIP helicopters. Tyagi was granted bail on December 26 while the others got it on January 4, 2017.
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