Former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi allegedly met AgustaWestland middlemen seven times between 2004 and 2007, reported NDTV. Reports said that the information surfaced on Monday during Tyagi's 10-hour-long interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper scam.
According to the investigators, in 2004, a representative of AgustaWestland's Italy-based parent company Finmeccanica met Tyagi for the first time. He was the air vice chief then. The company's middlemen Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa met him twice in 2005, after he took charge of the Air Force. They had at least seven more meetings till 2007, when he retired from his post. It was on March 7, 2005, during one of those meetings that Tyagi changed the specifications for the choppers so AgustaWestland could bid. Tyagi visited Florence, Milan and Venice after his retirement, and investigators are probing the purpose of the trips, reported The Indian Express.
Tyagi's three cousins, who are also accused of playing a part in the scam, will be examined by the CBI soon. The CBI is likely to interrogate Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, who allegedly helped in moving the bribe money, on Wednesday.
In a related development, the Finance Ministry has put on hold the decision to increase Foreign Direct Investment in AgustaWestland's joint venture with Tata Sons. The JV, Indian Rotorcraft, had approached the Foreign Investment Promotion Board seeking an increased FDI inflow of Rs 19.64 crore as against Rs 17.6 crore approved in September 2011. The company is setting up an assembly line for the AW-119 helicopters for the Indian Army and the global market.
The multi-crore scam resurfaced after an Italian court recently observed that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government refused to share crucial documents with investigators and displayed "substantial disregard" in arriving at the full truth in the case. The order said Tyagi allegedly brought down the flying ceiling of the choppers – the maximum height at which a helicopter can function normally – from 6,000m to 4,500m so AgustaWestland could be included in the bids, without which its helicopters were not qualified to submit tenders. His cousins and the middlemen helped him in the process, the order said.
The UPA had signed an agreement with AgustaWestland to buy 12 helicopters to transport VVIPs. However, the deal fell through following reports in Italy that the company had bribed Indian officials to get the deal. The CBI began its investigation into the case in 2013.
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