The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case under the Foreign Exchange Management Act to probe alleged violations of foreign exchange laws in the bribery scandal relating to the Rs3,600 VVIP chopper procurement scam.
The ED will soon issue notices to various Indian firms and individuals allegedly involved in the case, seeking their income tax returns, balance sheets and banking transactions, agency sources said.The agency will also seek relevant documents and information related to the now-junked procurement deal and associated findings about the inquiries into the scam.The investigating body is also scrutinising the documents relating to banking transactions through which the alleged bribe money was channeled between the officials and shell companies, the sources said.
A separate case under the money laundering laws would be initiated if the alleged contravention in the foreign exchange violations are prima facie established during the probe under FEMA, the sources said.
The CBI is already probing the deal from criminality and bribery angles. The deal was scrapped by the previous UPA government in January this year after the allegations of bribery surfaced in the media. Defence Ministry has also encashed a major chunk of bank guarantees worth over Rs2,400 crore deposited by AgustaWestland in banks in Italy and India after the deal was terminated.
The CBI FIR has booked former Indian Air Force Chief SP Tyagi along with 13 others, including his cousins and European middlemen in the case.
