The Enforcement Directorate has claimed it has identified politicians, bureaucrats, Indian Air Force officers and others who accepted bribes in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. “We have mapped the money trail and where it went in India,“ a senior official in the agency said, adding that investigators were now gathering evidence to back their findings.
From its investigation, the ED found that the European middlemen representing AgustaWestland – the Anglo-Italian firm with which the former United Progressive Alliance government had reached a deal to purchase 12 helicopters – handed over the kickbacks to the beneficiaries allegedly through Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, The Times of India reported. In its chargesheet, the ED accused Khaitan of being the medium through which payments were made to Indian beneficiaries by middlemen Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke. The Indians were reportedly to be paid 51 million euros (approximately Rs 362 crore at the then exchange rate) to secure the deal for AgustaWestland.
This supposed breakthrough comes at a time when the ED is set to issue summons to former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi, who will be questioned for the first time in a money-laundering case. Its investigation reports mention how the money reached Tyagi’s three cousins and how Haschke and Gerosa made inroads in the Air Force through Tyagi.
According to the verdict of Milan’s Court of Appeals, Tyagi and his cousins met several AgustaWestland officials during his term as IAF chief, The Indian Express reported. They were reportedly aware that the Defence Ministry would lower the altitude requirements of the helicopters it planned to buy, which they allegedly communicated to the middlemen to help AgustaWestland clinch the deal.
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