The case involves a Rs 3,600 crore contract to purchase 12 luxury helicopters (Representational)
New Delhi:
The CBI has filed a supplemental charge sheet in the AgustaWestland case that names 15 people, including Dubai-based businessman Rajiv Saxena.
Former CAG Shashi Kant Sharma has not been named on this charge sheet as the CBI has not yet received sanction from the Ministry of Defense to prosecute him. Agency sources said last week that permission had been requested to prosecute Sharma and former deputy air marshal Jasbir Singh Panesar.
The supplemental charge sheet details how the alleged bribes were transferred to government officials with the help of Rajiv Saxena, who was extradited to India in January last year.
The IWC has compiled a series of key documents and evidence from five countries through letters rogatory. These countries are the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, Italy, and Tunisia.
The alleged role of politicians is not addressed on this charge sheet, sources within the agency said.
The AgustaWestland case involves a Rs 3,600 crore 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 accusations 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 this role. He approved the purchase in 2010 as Managing Director (Defense Acquisition).
Others involved in the case include Christian Michel, one of the three intermediaries in the deal, along with Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
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. .
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