Christian Michel is the main defendant in the VVIP helicopter scandal (Representative)
New Delhi:
Former Comptroller General Shashi Kant Sharma and former Deputy Air Marshal Jasbir Singh Panesar will be prosecuted by the CBI, pending government sanction, in the AgustaWestland scam case, agency sources said on Friday.
The CBI has approached the Defense Ministry to obtain permission to initiate legal proceedings against Sharma and Panesar, as well as against three others appointed by the central agency, the sources added.
“Further investigation … revealed the participation of said officials. We have requested the sanction of the Ministry of Defense to prosecute … Once the sanction is granted, the aforementioned public servants, along with Christian Michel, will be named in the charge sheet supplement, “CBI sources told NDTV.
Despite several attempts to contact him, Mr. Sharma was not available to comment on this matter.
The Agusta Westland case involves a 3.6 billion rupee contract for the purchase of 12 luxury helicopters to be used by top Indian leaders such as the president, prime minister and other VIPs.
Signed in 2007 by the Manmohan Singh government, the contract was canceled six years later amid allegations that AgustaWestland paid bribes in India in the amount of Rs 362 crore.
Mr. Sharma, who was Co-Secretary (Air) in the Ministry of Defense between 2003 and 2007, initiated the purchase of the helicopters in that role. He approved the purchase in 2010 as Managing Director (Defense Acquisition).
A special investigative team from the IWC took over this case in 2016 and filed its first charge sheet against SP Tyagi, a former air chief marshal accused of taking bribes to alter helicopter specifications, and 11 others in September 2017. .
Others involved in the case include Christian Michel, one of the three intermediaries in the helicopter deal, along with Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
Michel, a British citizen, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in 2017 on the basis of an Interpol notice and extradited to India in December 2018.
He is currently in Tihar Prison in Delhi and has been accused by the Directorate of Enforcement of obtaining around Rs 225 million from AgustaWestland as bribes.
Along with Sharma and Panesar, the IWC has also requested a sanction to prosecute SA Kunte (deputy test pilot), Thomas Mathew, wing commander of the Indian Air Force) and N Santosh (then group captain, IAF).
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