[Exclusive] AgustaWestland scam: Setback for SP Tyagi, CBI to file FIR against the former Air Chief and kin

In a development which could spell bad news for the Former Air Chief Marshall (retd) SP Tyagi, CBI has decided to file an FIR against him and his cousins in the AgustaWestland chopper scam. According to sources in the CBI, SP Tyagi, his cousins Julie and Docsa, Gautam Khaitan and Parveen Bakshi will be booked under charges of bribery and cheating.

Sources say that CBI’s investigation is pointing towards the fact that SP Tyagi has accepted a bribe from his cousins to help AugustaWestland in the now infamous VVIP Chopper scam. The kickbacks in excess of 350 crores were allegedly routed through fake engineering contracts and paid to Tyagi brothers.

In another development, Satish Bagordia was also questioned by the CBI in the VVIP chopper scam. Satish Bagrodia is the younger brother of former MOS Coal, Santosh Bagrodia, and is a director in Chandigarh based IDS Infotech Ltd, which Italian investigators are alleging, was used to route bribe money in India.

The scam in the 4,000 crore helicopter deal would have gone unnoticed if Italian investigators had not arrested Giuseppe Orsi, CEO of Finmeccanica, parent company of AgustaWestland, to be guilty of having paid kickbacks to seal the helicopter deal in India. The Italian report had named cousins of former Indian Air Force Chief S P Tyagi – Julie and Docsa alias Rajiv Tyagi – as having received cash through middlemen and companies in London,Tunisia, Switzerland and Mauritius. The said helicopters (three out of 12 have already been delivered) were meant for VIPs like the Prime Minister.

As TEHELKA had reported earlier, a 64-page prosecution report filed by the Italian authorities, had detailed how Italian nationals Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa and UK-based consultant Christian Michel connived to push the deal through nefarious means. Bribes amounting to 51 million euros were paid and fictitious orders were raised through IT companies in Chandigarh. Junk helicopters were bought in order to mask the money trail. The bombshell in the report was the part where it said that middleman Haschke admitted that he had met former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi six-seven times and that Tyagi’s three cousins were instrumental in swinging the deal.

In a factsheet put up on the PIB website, the defence ministry admitted that in “November 2012, a letter was received in MoD from the director, income tax investigations, regarding allegations against Indians possibly involved in the deal as middlemen and seeking information about them”. After sitting on this information for two months, the MoD wrote to the Income Tax (IT) department that “it had no such details and if the IT has any such credible information, it should share with them”.

BRIJESH PANDEY – TEHELKA

#Italian #chopper deal: #CBI engages a lawyer in Italy

The CBI has engaged a lawyer in Italy to represent India‘s case with the Italian government and the local courts to find out the role of Indians in the alleged kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP helicopter deal.

Official sources said today that the assistance of a lawyer was taken to help understand the Italian law and expedite getting documents from the helicopter company.

The lawyer, if necessary, would be approaching the court in Italy for procurement of documents, they said.

A team of CBI and Defence Ministry officials is leaving for Italy tomorrow to verify allegations of kickbacks in the supply of 12 AgustaWestland helicopters.

The team comprise a CBI DIG, a law officer of the agency, a Joint Secretary-level officer of Defence Ministry and an official of the External Affairs Ministry.

The team’s departure was delayed by a day due to some last-minute formalities which required to be fulfilled before travelling abroad for the purpose of investigation, they said, adding the team would try to meet Italian prosecutors to ascertain the details of the case.

The CBI’s decision came after it virtually drew a blank from the Defence Ministry in getting some official inputs regarding alleged kickbacks of Rs 362 crore in the case.

The CBI was handed over a letter from the Defence Ministry seeking a probe by it in the case which has triggered a storm in the country. Attached with the letter were some Indian and Italian press clippings, which the CBI said, could not form the basis for registering a case.

CBI had sought help of Indian Mission in Rome which too has not been able to provide any authenticated court documents to the agency, the sources said.

This was followed by CBI seeking help of Interpol which also expressed inability to provide any help in the absence of any regular case not having been registered by the agency, they said.

The Defence Ministry had yesterday sent a team led by Joint Secretary and an Air Commodore of Indian Air Force, who gave a presentation to the CBI about the tendering procedures and various stages while finalising the helicopter deal with AgustaWestland.

However, when pressed by the CBI officials about the kickback allegations, the team could not provide any answers to the sleuths, the sources said.

PTI

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Indian arms orders cross USD 7 billion mark in 2012: Russian Arms Exporter

The overall value of Indian defence orders placed with Russia has crossed USD 7 billion mark in 2012 and the outlook for current year is even more optimistic, Viktor Komardin, Chief of the delegation of ‘Rosoboronexport’ at Aero India 2013 aerospace show in Bangalore today said. The 9th Aero India show is scheduled for February 6-11.

Currently ‘Rosoboronexport’ is actively negotiating contracts for the modernisation of anti-submarine helicopters Kamov Ka-28 and Sukhoi Su-30MKI and supply of Mil Mi-17B-5 helicopters for Indian Home Ministry. Russia is also in the fray for the sale of refueller aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

Chinese Defence Minister gifts Rs. 1 lakh to Indian Air Force pilots.

In a major breach of protocol, visiting Chinese Defence Minister General Liang Guang Lie handed out 50,000 each to two Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots on Monday.

Two Embraer and an Avro aircraft were sent to Mumbai to fetch the delegation to Delhi for the talks. These aircraft were from the communication squadron of the IAF which is tasked to ferry senior officials and dignitaries including the Indian Prime Minister and the President.

The normal custom is to hand over mementos by the visiting delegation; money is never handed over. IAF officials said when Indian dignitaries travel on these aircraft for foreign trips, they gift ties and other small mementos as a token of appreciation to the aircraft crew.

The money was handed over to pilots as mementos in two packets. Once the pilots opened the packets and realised that money had given they informed the IAF headquarters which in turn has written to Ministry of Defence. The money will be deposited in the Government treasury tomorrow morning. Sources said the money could not be returned to the Chinese Defence Minister due to sensitivities involved in it.

General Guang, who is on a five-day India visit, arrived in Mumbai on Sunday. The Defence Ministry had provided its aircraft for the inland travel of the visiting Minister.

Yesterday, before the beginning of the delegation-level talks, the Chinese Minister had thanked his Indian counterpart A K Antony for the arrangements made by India for him and his entourage.

 

 

 

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Chinese Soldier on Indian Soil

At least 37 incursions of Chinese forces have been reported during the last five years in Uttarakhand, which has a 350 kilometer long border with China, chief minister Vijay Bahuguna said on Monday.

Speaking at the chief ministers’ conference on internal security, the newly-elected chief minister of Uttarakhand, Bahuguna said Chinese are disputing Indian territorial claims regarding Barahoti in Chamoli district.

“There have been several reported incursions by Chinese patrol parties into Indian territory in this area: six times in 2006, twice in 2007, ten times in 2008, eleven times in 2009, five times in 2010 and thrice in 2011,” he said.

Underlining the importance of a potent road network in the border areas, Bahuguna said the Centre has sanctioned 12 strategic roads in border areas but the progress has been slow owing to forest clearances.

“Expediting the construction of border roads and tracks is crucial especially in view of the modern highways constructed by China right upto the international border with India,” he said.

Bahuguna also raised concerns about the threat posed by the Moists in Nepal who have declared Kalapani in Pithoragarh district to be a Nepalese territory and repeatedly threatening to march to it.

“A frontal organisation of the Nepalese Maoists, the Young Communist League (YCL), is very active in the Nepalese province of Mahakali Anchal, which has borders with Uttarakhand,” the chief minister said.

The chief minister said intelligence inputs indicate that CPI Maoists have designs to deploy People’s Liberation Guerilla Army cadres in Uttarakhad and intensify their tactical counter-offensive campaign in order to push the state into the “fourth stage” of the revolutionary movement.

Himachal Chief Minister P K Dhumal had accused the UPA government last month for not taking a serious notice of Chinese interference along the Tibet border and cautioned that ignoring these “warning signals” could land the country into serious trouble.

“China is sometime violating the airspace, objecting to road constructions in Leh, building ultramodern airfields in Tibet and extending the railway line upto Tibet border” but the Indian government was conveniently ignoring these warnings, the BJP chief minister said.

He was replying to a calling attention motion in the state Assembly on “violation of Indian airspace by two Chinese helicopters along Himachal border”.

“We could not perceive the Chinese threat in 1962 as we were enamoured by ‘Hindi- Chini, Bhai Bhai’ and now again, China is strengthening its borders and we must take it seriously,” he said.

Attacking China for violation of Indian airspace over Himachal border, Dhumal said that the government has allocated a piece of land to the Indian Air Force (IAF) for installation of a radar to monitor the air space. “The IAF approached the government and a land has been provided to it,” he said.

The calling attention was moved by BJP member Ram Lal Markandey, who cited news reports regarding intrusion of two Chinese helicopters into Indian Airspace. The helicopters were spotted by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on March 16 over Kaurik, close to the international border, about 330 km from state capital Shimla in tribal Spiti Valley.
China has been complaining and objecting to anything being done by India on the border and even opposed visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Arunachal Pradesh and movement of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama even within India, Dhumal said.

“There have been reports about China strengthening the infrastructure being created by China on its side of the border and even China has installed missiles that could target any Indian city in Tibet .
“I have apprised the government of India in this regard a number of times and requested them to strengthen the infrastructure along the Indian border and take necessary measures to safeguard the state,” Dhumal said.

He said even Chinese aircraft, after intruding into Indian airspace from Himachal from one side, cross Indian border within 15-20 minutes and land in Pakistan and described it as a serious issue and needs attention of Union government.

SOURCE : PTI

India Clears 950 Million Euro Deal for Mirage-2000 Missiles

India today cleared a €950 million deal to procure 500 air-to-air missiles from a French firm for IAF‘s Mirage-2000 aircraft fleet.

A Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today cleared the deal to procure 490 MICA missiles manufactured by French firm MBDA, Defence Ministry sources said.

The missiles would be deployed on the 51 Mirage-2000 aircraft, which are already undergoing upgrades at French facilities under a €1.47 billion deal signed earlier this year.

Under the deal, MBDA will invest €315 million back in the Indian defence sector. The Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) mandates that foreign vendors bagging deals worth over 300 crore have to invest back at least 30% of the contract’s worth into Indian defence, civil aerospace and homeland security sector.

India signed a deal with French companies Thales and Dassault Aviation, which will take ten years to carry out mid-life upgrade of IAF’s 51 Mirage-2000 fighters.

Two aircraft have already been flown to France for upgrades and the remaining would be modernised in India at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) facilities in Bangalore.

“The cost of the contract for upgrade of the Mirage 2000 with Thales is €1,470 million while the cost of the contract with HAL is 2,020 crore [around €340 million]. The upgrade of the aircraft is expected to be completed by mid 2021,” Defence Minister AK Antony recently informed Parliament.