The CBI, which is investigating the AgustaWestland helicopter deal scam, has asked the Indian Embassy to give details about the arrest of Guido Ralph Haschke, the alleged middleman in the deal, by the Swiss authorities. He was arrested in Switzerland on Thursday on the request of Italian authorities and to be extradited to their country next week.
The arrest will strengthen the Defence Ministry’s efforts to cancel the Rs 3,600 crore deal with AgustaWestland on grounds of breach of contract including integrity pact. This clause bars the vendor from engaging a middleman and paying commissions or bribes. The Attorney General recently gave its opinion that investigations, so far, suggested that there was a breach of contract.
Following Haschke’s arrest, the CBI has sent a letter to the Indian Embassy in Rome seeking details about his custody and the ongoing probe. The investigating agency will also shortly make a judicial request to Italy for information on the statements given by the accused in custody of authorities there, sources said here on Friday.
Italy started the probe in February this year into allegations of Rs 360 crore kickbacks to bag the Rs 3,600 crore 12 AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter contract which was inked with India in 2010.
The scam led to a furore in India and the Defence Ministry then asked the CBI in March to investigate into the allegations. The Ministry also froze the contract with AgustaWestland then and served a show cause notice to it as to why the contract should not be cancelled as the company reportedly violated the integrity pact.
As regards Haschke, he is among 13 accused including former IAF Chief SP Tyagi booked by CBI in connection with the corruption case. After getting the statements of all the accused from the Italian courts, the CBI is likely to explore the option of seeking extradition of all the accused in the custody of Italian authorities, officials said.
Swiss-American Haschke is one of the 13 accused named in the FIR filed by CBI which said “Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa (both alleged middlemen) managed to send 5.6 million Euros through Mohali-based IDS Infotech and Chandigarh-based Aeromatrix Info Solutions Private ltd to India and kept the remaining amount of about 24.30 million Euros received from AgustaWestland with themselves in the account of IDS Tunisia.”
The Italian prosecutor, who carried out the preliminary inquiry, has alleged that the CEO of Finmeccanica, the parent company of the UK-based AgustaWestland had used services of middlemen to bribe Indian officials.
The CBI has named 13 individuals including Tyagi and European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Christian Michel and Guido Haschke, in the FIR. Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry is moving towards cancelling the contract after the Attorney General’s opinion.
AgustaWestland has denied allegations of any wrongdoing and opted for arbitration ten days back against the Indian Government.
At present, the IAF has three AgustaWestland helicopters and cannot get the remaining nine helicopters due to ban by the Defence Ministry. IAF Chief NAK Browne has urged the Government to take a decision as the present fleet of MI-8 VIP helicopters will be phased out by the end of the next year.