Chopper scam: CBI skirts accusing former air chief Tyagi directly
14 Mar 2013
The previous chief of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal (retd) S P Tyagi – facing seriously turbulent weather over India's purchase of 12 helicopters from Italy's Finmeccanica for VIP transport – and three of his family members stand charged by the Central Bureau of Investigation of taking kickbacks of €4,26,000 (Rs2.98 crore) to swing the deal.
The CBI says it has tracked two payments; one of €126,000 between August and October in 2004 and another of €200,000 in February 2005. In addition, the Tyagis got €100,000 in cash to influence the deal for Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland.
The investigating agency filed a first information report (FIR) early on Wednesday and raided some 14 properties across localities of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) and Chandigarh.
Premises raided include the residences of S P Tyagi and his cousins and offices of Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland, IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix, among others.
In details that emerged today, the CBI says in its FIR that Tyagi and three of his cousins - Julie, Docsa and Sandeep Tyagi - were bribed to secure the contract for Finmeccanica's AugustaWestland copters.
The FIR mentions as evidence a letter written by the retired air chief marshal in 2005, in which he allegedly approved scaling down the flying height of the helicopters from 18,000 feet to 15,000 feet.
