Embraer deal: VVIP chopper scam accused S P Tyagi was also involved in selecting the aircraft

NEW DELHI: The CBI is now examining a set of key documents connected to the controversial $208 million deal for three Embraer-145 aircraft, which includes the minutes of the meetings in which the decision to acquire the Brazilian aircraft was taken for the AEW&C (airborne early-warning and control systems) project of DRDO.
The documents show that the meetings on December 5 and 8, 2006, were held in the office of then deputy chief of air staff, Air Marshal A K Nagalia, and attended by the then AEW&C programme director S Christopher, who is now the DRDO chief, among others.
Then, on December 19, the then IAF chief Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi chaired another meeting to discuss the AEW&C project, which included his top officers as well as Christopher. ACM Tyagi (retd), who is among the accused named in the CBI case in the infamous AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter scam, did not take calls from TOI on Friday.
Christopher, who was heading the Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) and the AEW&C project before he was appointed the DRDO chief in May 2015, has also refused to answer questions on the Embraer bribery scandal till now.
As reported by TOI earlier, allegations have surfaced in Brazil that Embraer hired a UK-based agent and paid commissions to swing the $208 million deal with India in 2008. But sources say the decision to select the Emb-145 aircraft as the platform on which the indigenous DRDO-made radars would be mounted was taken much earlier.
The Cabinet Committee on Security, in fact, had sanctioned the AEW&C project at a cost of Rs 1,800 crore way back in October 2004. But the project could not take off then because the IAF took time to finalize the operational requirements for the Emb-145 platform to serve as the AEW&C.
ACM Tyagi retired as the IAF chief in March 2007. Incidentally, his main defence in the VVIP helicopter case has been that he retired much before the actual 556 million Euro contract with AgustaWestland for 12 AW-101 helicopters was inked in February 2010. Despite registering a FIR in March 2013, the CBI is yet to file a chargesheet in the case.