After nearly three years of investigations in the VVIP chopper scam, the CBI on Friday arrested former Air Force chief SP Tyagi over charges that he took Rs 450 crore bribe for changing the technical parameters to suit AgustaWestland (AW), a UK-based company, which is a subsidiary of the Italian conglomerate the Finmeccanica. The agency also arrested his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi and a lawyer in the sensational case involving procurement of 12 VVIP helicopters during the UPA-2 Government.
These are the first arrests in the sensational case in which the CBI registered an FIR in 2013 after the prosecutors in Italy levelled allegations of corruption in the deal against the chief of Finmeccanica, the parent company of AW.
Seventy-one-year old Tyagi, who retired in 2007, is the first former chief of the Air Force to be arrested in a corruption case. The agency called Tyagi for questioning at CBI headquarters along with his cousin and Chandigarh-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan. They were taken into custody after nearly four hours of grilling, CBI sources said.
In a statement in the evening, CBI spokesperson Devpreet Singh said, “It was alleged that Chief of Air Staff entered into criminal conspiracy with other accused persons and in 2005, conceded to change IAF’s consistent stand that flying ceiling of 6,000 metres for VVIP helicopters was an inescapable operational necessity and reduced the same to 4,500 metres.”
Singh said such changes in Operational Requirements made AW eligible to participate in the Request for Proposal for VVIP helicopters.
“It was revealed during investigation that such undue favours were allegedly shown to said UK-based private company by accepting illegal gratification from the accused vendors through middlemen/relatives including his cousin and an advocate etc, who accepted the illegal gratification for exercising influence through illegal means, or using personal influence over the concerned public servants,” the CBI spokesperson said.
Singh said the arrested accused persons will be produced before the competent court on Saturday where their remand would be sought.
In the past, Tyagi has insisted that the change of specifications, which brought AW into contention, was a collective decision in which senior officers of Indian Air Force, SPG and other departments were involved. The contract was finally signed in 2010 for 12 helicopters and the first three helicopters were delivered in 2012. They are now non-operational after the contract was cancelled in January 2014.
The CBI had claimed that Khaitan accepted having taken money from European middlemen Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa but insisted it was not kickbacks to influence the deal.
The CBI during investigations had claimed that back in 2004, Tyagi’s cousins Sanjeev, Rajiv and Sandeep, influenced the purchase deal in connivance with Guido Hashke and Carlo Gerosa, who emerged as main accused in the scam in the probe carried by the Italian investigators. It was alleged that the Tyagi brothers received huge bribe (1,26,000 Euros after May 2004 and 200,000 Euro after February 2005) as consultancy fees. Some of the money was allegedly paid off to SP Tyagi also.
The IAF had proposed to procure new VVIP helicopters in 1999 to replace the ageing MI-8 helicopters. Four companies responded to the global tenders issued in 2002. Three of them could not meet technical requirements. The IAF needed a VVIP helicopter which could land and take off at heights including Siachen glacier.
In 2003, Brajesh Mishra, Principal Secretary to then Prime Minister AB Vajpayee advised changes in specifications to avoid single vendor situation. A new tender was issued in 2006 to six vendors and three vendors including Sikorsky (US), AW and Rosoboronexport (Russia) responded. Following extensive field trials and commercial negotiation, AW helicopter AW-101 was finally selected.
The allegations of commission to bag the contract first surfaced in Italian media in 2012 and some months later the Government handed over the case to the CBI. The contract was finally cancelled in 2014 on the grounds that AW had violated the integrity pact. It stipulates that the vendor will not pay any commission or bribe besides engaging a middleman.