The CBI has named 15 entities (individuals and companies) in its supplemental charge sheet, filed in a special court, which mainly focuses on the trail of bribery money paid to exchange the Rs 3,600 crore deal for 12 helicopters in favor. from AgustaWestland, which was failed in the primary race due to the 6,000 meter operating ceiling set for the helicopters to be used to transport VVIP, including the Prime Minister, the President, the Vice President and the Minister of Defense.
The supplemental charge sheet was filed on Friday night, nearly three years after the first SIT charge sheet under then-Special Director Rakesh Asthana, naming former IAF chief SP Tyagi as a defendant in the scam.
The court will hear the matter on Monday.
According to CBI’s investigation into the monetary trail of bribery, SP Tyagi’s cousins Sandeep and Sanjeev Tyagi, through their New Delhi-based company Neel Madhav Consultants Pvt. Ltd had acquired a Kolkata-based company, Mainak Agency Pvt. Ltd. in 2009 to launder Rs 5 crore in bribes received through bank channels using shell companies and fake bank accounts to camouflage transactions.
The Tyagi brothers allegedly colluded with other defendants, Narendra Kumar Jain and Rajesh Kumar Jain from Kolkata, who created the shell companies, and Sunil Kothari, then managing director of Om Metals Infotech Pvt Ltd, who allegedly opened fake accounts in different banks.
The agency has alleged that Tyagis gave Jains and Kothari Rs five million rupees in black which was returned to them as clean money through alleged business transactions.
The CBI has alleged that it has intercepted conversations between intermediaries Guido Ralph Haschke and Carlo Gerosa to establish allegations that AgustaWestland had paid bribes to Sandeep Tyagi.
The conversation allegedly paints a picture of Sandeep Tyagi as a trustworthy man who has deep contacts in New Delhi, authorities said.
Giacomino Saponaro, the then CEO of AgustaWestland International Ltd, has also been named as a defendant.
The IWC has charged defendants under sections of the Indian Penal Code with criminal conspiracy (120B), destruction of evidence (201), cheating (420) and falsification (471), among others, and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Law.
In its supplemental charge sheet, the CBI has alleged that Christian Michel James, one of AgustaWestland’s VVIP intermediaries
helicopter Settlement already mentioned as a defendant on the first charge sheet, he had allegedly paid Rs 97 lakh to his associate KV Kunhikrishnan, a former CEO of Westland Support, to obtain documents related to the acquisition process which were transmitted to the company.
James, who was extradited from Dubai in December 2018, had allegedly used Kunhikrishnan’s services to obtain documents related to the acquisition process for which he was paid Rs 97 lakh as consulting expenses, the agency said.
These documents were handed over to the company and recovered during searches at the premises of another European intermediary, Guido Ralph Haschke, by the Swiss authorities, they said.
The agency has further alleged that Praveen Bakshi, PK Aggarwal, then Managing Director of IDS Infotech Ltd and Rajeev Saxena, Director of Interstellar Technologies Ltd, Mauritius, through their respective companies, had facilitated the transfer of the kickbacks from AgustaWestland.
Another defendant defender Gautam Khaitan (mentioned on the first charge sheet) and his employee Deepak Goyal allegedly prepared false invoices and sent emails to transfer the bribes through IDS Tunisia and Interstellar Technologies Ltd and other companies.
In its charge sheet, the IWC has named Sandeep Tyagi, Praveen Bakshi, PK Aggarwal, the then Managing Director of IDS Infotech Ltd, and the company, Narendra Kumar Jain and Rajesh Kumar Jain from Kolkata, and Sunil Kothari as defendants. , the then managing director of M / s OM Metals Infotech Pvt. Limited.
He has also appointed KV Kunhikrishnan, former CEO of Westland Support Services Ltd and alleged partner of intermediary Christian Michel James, Rajiv Saxena, the then director of Interstellar Technologies Ltd and the company, and Deepak Goyal. Ltd., New Delhi (through its Director Sandeep Tyagi); M / s Mainak Agency Pvt. Ltd., formerly in Kolkata, now based in New Delhi (through its directors Sandeep Tyagi and Sanjeev Tyagi as defendants.
In its first charge sheet filed with the IWC special judge in 2017, the IWC had named former IAF chief SP Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev alias Julie and defender Gautam Khaitan in the bribery case.
On January 1, 2014, India canceled the contract with Finmeccanica’s British subsidiary, based in Italy, AgustaWestland, for the supply of 12 AW-101 VVIP helicopters to the IAF for alleged breach of contractual obligations and bribe payment charges. in the amount of Rs 423 crore for securing the deal.
In its first charge sheet, the CBI alleged that there was an estimated loss of € 398.21 million (approximately Rs 2,666 million) in the treasury in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP helicopters. worth 556,262 million euros.
In addition to Tyagi, the agency had also indicted retired Air Marshal JS Gujral along with eight others, including European intermediaries Carlo Gerosa, Christian Michel, Guido Haschke, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and former Finmeccanica president Giuseppe Orsi.
The CBI had alleged that Khaitan was the “mastermind” behind how the bribery money got to India and various companies, through which the money traveled, emerged and that Sanjeev was known to the alleged European middleman Carlo Gerosa.
SP Tyagi, who had retired in 2007, his cousin Sanjeev and Khaitan were arrested by the agency in connection with the case. These defendants are currently out on bail.
The agency had filed a case against Tyagi and 12 other people, including his three cousins and five foreign nationals, in connection with the VVIP helicopter scam.
The accusation against the former Air Chief was that he had lowered the helicopter’s flight ceiling from 6,000 to 4,500 m (15,000 ft) so that AgustaWestland could be included in the bids.
However, Tyagi denied the allegations and said the decision was made in consultation with officials from the Special Protection Group and the Prime Minister’s Office.
The agency has continued the investigation.
.
