AgustaWestland scam: Ex-Def Secy, four IAF men named in chargesheet

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 16

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its supplementary chargesheet in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland scam has named former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma and four retired Indian Air Force officers, officials in the agency said.

The officials said the chargesheet was filed in a special CBI court here after getting the nod from the government to prosecute Sharma, who served as the Defence Secretary between 2011 and 2013 before being appointed the CAG.

The CBI has also named the then Air Vice Marshal Jasbir Singh Panesar (now retired), deputy chief test pilot SA Kunte, the then Wing Commander Thomas Mathew and Group Captain N Santosh. Kunte and Santosh retired as Air Commodore.

It is to be noted here that the case pertains to the alleged bribery to swing a deal to procure 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland, which was ineligible as its helicopters did not meet the 6,000-metre operational ceiling parameter set by the IAF. The need for new helicopters to ferry VVIPs — the President, Prime Minister, Vice-President and Defence Minister — was felt in 1999 when a proposal was moved to find an alternative to the IAF’s Soviet-era Mi8s.

The CBI, in its first chargesheet filed in in September 2017, had accused then IAF Chief SP Tyagi of recommending reduction in the operational ceiling of the helicopters from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres, which brought AgustaWestland into the race.

The IAF was strongly opposed to the changes but when Tyagi became the chief, he recommended it, the agency said in its first chargesheet. It alleged that this was done at the behest of Finmeccanica and AgustaWestland top executives, who engaged the services of three middlemen — Christian Michel, Guido Haschke and Carlos Gerosa. These middlemen allegedly paid bribes to Tyagi and his cousins Rajiv, Sandeep and Julie, it added.

In its second charge sheet in September 2020 in the case, the CBI named Michel and other middlemen.

The agency has alleged that Michel’s firms received about 42.27 million euros, approximately 7 per cent of the deal amount, from the companies to swing the Rs 3,600-crore deal in their favour.

The bribes were allegedly routed through companies of Michel and an advocate, Gautam Khaitan, in the form of multiple contracts through layered transactions.

VVIP chopper scam

• Rs 3,600-cr scam pertains to alleged bribery for the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland
• CBI now names ex-Defence Secy Shashi K Sharma and then Air Vice Marshal JS Panesar and 3 other officers

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