Agusta deal: CBI to send reminders

In an effort to complete its probe into the multi-crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal case at the earliest, the CBI is once again preparing to send fresh reminders to the authorities concerned in Mauritius, Singapore and the UAE for the early execution of its pending judicial requests. The agency, in its judicial requests or Letters Rogatory (LRs), sought details about certain overseas firms based there.

“Investigations by the agency has established that three suspects in the case allegedly received 1,26,000 euros and 2,00,000 euros in 2005, routed through Tunisia and Mauritius,” sources said.

Sources also said that fresh reminders will be sent to the concerned authorities in Mauritius, Singapore and the UAE for the early execution of the LRs.

An LR is a judicial request issued by a competent court to a foreign court and processed by the ministry of external affairs on behalf of the investigating agencies to obtain information about individuals and entities. The CBI had sent LRs to eight countries — Italy, the United Kingdom, British Virgin Island, Tunisia, Switzerland, Singapore, the UAE and, Mauritius.

While Italy had completely complied with the LR, Tunisia, the British Virgin Islands, Switzerland and the UK have partly responded.

Mauritius, Singapore and the UAE have not responded to the request, the sources said.

The agency had booked former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi and 12 others on March 13, 2013, under charges of bribery, cheating and corruption in the VVIP chopper deal. The former Air Chief, his cousins Sanjeev alias Julie, Rajeev alias Docsa and Sandeep, European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Christian Michel and Guido Haschke were among 13 individuals named in the FIR as accused. Six companies, including Italy-based Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland, Mohali-based IDS Infotech, Chandigarh-based Aeromatrix, IDS Tunisia and IDS Mauritius had also been booked by the CBI in its FIR.

“It has been found that during the tenure of Tyagi, the Air Force conceded to reduce the service ceiling for VVIP helicopters to 4,500 metres as mandatory ‘operational requirement’ (OR). Earlier, the IAF was opposing it vehemently on the grounds of security constraints and other related issues,” sources said. The air headquarters had reached a clear decision in April 2004 that AgustaWestland was not an option as VVIP helicopters due to its failure in meeting the service ceiling mandatory OR, they added.