NEW DELHI: The CBI’s initial investigations into the AgustaWestland scam has found that former IAF chief SP Tyagi was indeed bribed by middlemen around the same time – 2004-2005 – that his cousins were given money, highly placed sources said.
However, the bribe amount remains “unquantified” and CBI is also yet to find the trail of this money but the agency suspects that one of the middlemen of Finmeccanica brought the money to India. CBI sources said they will soon start questioning the accused people in the case after all the documents are analyzed.Meanwhile, CBI has reportedly shared crucial documents with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) showing money trail of the alleged Rs 362 crore kickback in the VVIP chopper deal.
Officials said they had found several documents showing money paid to Tyagi’s cousins and they had to get hold of some bank papers. The agency has found that 1.26 lakh euros and another 2 lakh euros was paid to the Tyagi brothers (Julie, Docsa and Sandeep Tyagi) sometime in 2004, much before SP Tyagi became the IAF chief.
The Tyagis had claimed during questioning that this money was given to them by Guido Haschke as consultancy fee for some subsidiary of AgustaWestland, for which they provided their services. Subsequently, there was another transfer of 5.6 million euros to IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix, which came to the Tyagi brothers.
CBI sources said “there was another 30 million euros which was brought by Christian Michael to India, which is believed to be the part from where money could have been sent to SP Tyagi”. However, the agency is not sure about the route of money to SP Tyagi yet. “Most of the money was in cash except a few transfers. We are trying to figure out if money was given in cash to SP Tyagi or if it was invested somewhere in property or stashed in a bank,” a source said.
The agency had booked 13 persons including SP Tyagi, Satish Bagrodia (brother of former minister Santosh Bagrodia) and others in an FIR registered earlier this week. CBI has alleged that during the tenure of SP Tyagi and “with his approval”, the IAF “conceded to reduce the service ceiling for VVIP helicopters from 6000 meters to 4500 meters as mandatory to which it was opposing vehemently on the grounds of security constraints and other related reasons earlier,” agency sources said. – TOI
