Sting operation reveals how Agusta kickbacks reached India

A sting operation by India Today has laid bare the kickbacks trail running through Mauritius in the AgustaWestland chopper scam and smoked out suspect Gautam Khaitan's well-entrenched connections that allegedly helped him launder the bribe money via shell companies. Members of India Today's special investigation team (SIT) entered the Port Louis office of Shakil Fakeermahamood, who Enforcement Directorate sleuths believe may have managed the flow of dirty money in the now-cancelled aircraft deal.

Probe agencies are looking into allegations that Italian defence manufacturer Finmeccanica and its subsidiary, AgustaWestland, spent nearly Rs 360 crore to bribe influential people in India to manipulate specifications related to the chopper's flying capability to bag the contract.

Funds for bribes

Khaitan, a Delhi-based lawyer, was arrested in 2014 for allegedly routing funds for bribes in the Rs 3,600-crore helicopter deal. He was released on bail in January last year. According to an Enforcement Directorate charge sheet, he funnelled kickbacks through shell companies in Mauritius. So far, no investigator from India or Italy has been able to reach out to Fakeermahamood, accused of managing Khaitan's Interstellar Technologies company in Mauritius by proxy.

"Yes, everybody knows him in Mauritius," Fakeermahamood told the India Today team when asked whether he knew Khaitan.

"He was adviser of (the) financial services commission," the offshore consultant disclosed. Fakeermahamood was referring to the Mauritian body that regulates and licenses non-banking financial and global businesses in that country.

Khaitan, he added, was well-known in the Mauritian government circles. According to the ED charge sheet, Khaitan received money from suspected middlemen Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. The lawyer, however, denies collecting bribes.

Investigators have found that the AgustaWestland bribe money moved through Intersellar Technologies handled by Fakeermahamood on behalf of Khaitan.

Legitimate fee

Khaitan has largely remained evasive about his Mauritian networks during his questioning by the ED. Fakeermahamood defended his alleged client Khaitan, saying the lawyer had charged a legitimate fee for facilitating the chopper deal. "If you take the case of Mr Khaitan, he's a lawyer... Everybody pays consultancy fees," the Mauritian operative said, unaware he was being filmed secretly.

"The guy who negotiated to get the contract from the Italian company was paid consultancy fees for their work to be done for this thing." At the same time, Fakeermahamood admitted bribes may have been paid in the helicopter deal.

"There is good money and there may be bribery. I can understand. But there's work done," he said. "We don't know which part is bribery." Fakeermahamood insisted Khaitan was not the brains behind the scam. "He cannot be the mastermind....He's a lawyer. How can he be a mastermind?"

Khaitan would have charged a legit fee for his services, he reiterated. "But did he give the bribe? That's the question to all."

In his statement to the ED and CBI, Khaitan's employee Manish Jain admitted that his boss had asked him to contact Fakeermahamood in connection with some undisclosed money wires.