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Setback for India as Italian court releases Agusta middleman

Last Updated 05 October 2017, 20:30 IST
An Italian court has released Carlos Gerosa, a suspected middleman in the multi-crore VVIP copter deal, saying India and Italy have no extradition treaty. Gerosa was detained on an Interpol notice based on the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) request.

Gerosa was returning from Switzerland when he was detained last week and his release comes as a setback for Indian agencies, including the ED and the CBI, investigating the AgustaWestland scam.

The appeals court of Messina has ordered the release, saying that though the detention could be treated as formally correct but such measures cannot be applied in the absence of an extradition treaty. It also cited that Gerosa has a Swiss passport.

The ED is now planning to send an extradition request to Italy at the earliest. Officials said though India does not have a full-fledged extradition treaty with Italy, there is a working arrangement.

Investigators said Gerosa’s extradition is important as he is one of the three middlemen besides Christian Michel and Guido Haschke.

On September 1, the CBI filed a charge sheet and named former Air Force chief S P Tyagi among others. Gerosa is also named in the charge sheet.

According to the CBI, there was an estimated loss of € 398.21 million (around Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal signed by the UPA government in February 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth € 556.262 million.

The CBI has informed the court that it has been able to establish a money trail worth € 62 million (around Rs 415.40 crore) from countries like Mauritius, Singapore, the UAE, Tunisia, the UK and the British Virgin Island.

The CBI had earlier sent Letters Rogatories seeking information from these countries. Based on the CBI FIR, the ED registered a money laundering case and its investigators claimed that around € 28 million was paid by AgustaWestland to middlemen Haschke and Gerosa through IDS Tunisia.

IDS Tunisia transferred the amount to various companies, including M/s Interstellar Mauritius an amount of € 12.4 million.

According to the ED, this money was moved through a web of companies located in Mauritius, Dubai and Singapore.
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(Published 05 October 2017, 20:30 IST)

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