 | « Back to article | Print this article |
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday questioned former Indian air force Chief S P Tyagi and two others in connection with alleged irregularities in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal during which he was asked about alleged foreign remittances received by him.
CBI sources claimed that some foreign remittances were allegedly received by him in 2009--two years after his retirement--which were the focus of questioning of Tyagi.
They said he was asked about the source of these funds, reasons behind the remittances, and also his travels to Italy after his retirement.
The agency confronted him with account statements and sought to know the explanation.
Refusing to reveal the amount or why the CBI has not been able to dig into these details even three years after the registration of the case, the officials said they are looking at these issues with a new perspective after the Milan court of appeals order which had concluded that bribes were allegedly paid to clinch the deal.
It names Tyagi at several instances mentioning the meetings and interactions with alleged European middlemen and officials of Finmeccanica, parent firm of AgustaWestland.
Tyagi has denied allegations of any corruption in the helicopter deal.
The agency also questioned today Praveen Bakshi, chief executive officer of Aeromatrix Infosolutions Pvt Limited and Pratap Aggarwal, Managing Director of IDS Infotech who are under scanner for allegedly helping the routing bribe amount from AgustaWestland to various suspected Indian beneficiaries.
They claimed they were questioned about services provided by their companies to AgustaWestland.
The CBI had registered a case against S P Tyagi along with 13 others including his cousins, Bakshi, Aggarwal and European middlemen--Guido Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and Chritian Michel.
The allegation against S P Tyagi is that he reduced flying ceiling of the helicopter from 6,000m to 4,500m (15,000ft) which put AgustaWestland helicopters in the race for the deal without which its choppers were not even qualified for submission of bids.
Tyagi has denied allegations against him and said the change of specifications, which brought AgustaWestland into contention, was a collective decision in which senior officers of the Indian Air Force, Special Protection Group and other departments were involved.
Meanwhile, a team of the Enforcement Directorate officials may soon travel to a few countries, including Singapore, and seek expediting the process of replies to its judicial requests issued in the case.
Officials said while the agency, along with CBI, has already issued a number of Letters Rogatory to a number of countries, investigators are eager to obtain quick information on funds and transactions made by individuals and entities involved in the Rs 3,600-crore deal for supplying a dozen AgustaWestland Aw-101 choppers to India for VVIP flying.
They said preparations are being made to send a team of Enforcement Directorate officials to a few of these countries, including Singapore, to "speed up" the entire process of legal cooperation in matters of overseas criminal and financial investigations.
The agency has already issued follow-up requests on its Letters Rogatories to at least ten countries in connection with the money laundering case it has registered to probe the deal.
Officials said while seven of the LRs (judicial requests) have been already dispatched, three have been sent recently.
The agency has obtained, from the courts, a total of ten LRs to countries like Tunisia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, Israel, Finland, Singapore and Denmark in order to obtain details about the financial transactions that have taken place in the case by the firms and individuals named in its charge sheet filed before a court here last year.