Agusta scam: Singapore deals a blow

In a setback to the probe in the AgustaWestland (AW) scam, Singapore has declined to share key financial details related to the VVIP AW deal’s money-trail involving a Mumbai-based firm being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), on grounds that it does not preserve records of over five-year-old transactions.

Authorities in Singapore have communicated to the ED that the alleged bank transactions — involving certain firms located in Singapore, Mauritius and India — occurred in 2007 but their records are no longer available with them, according to a finance ministry source who requested anonymity. Earlier, the ED had sought details on the transactions via a formal request — Letters Rogatory (LR) — sent via judicial channels from Singapore, according to the source. “Singapore said it cannot share the 2007 records as it does not preserve such financial records beyond five years,” said the source.

“The probe into the 2007 transaction has hit a major hurdle and it has to be seen if there is any other available option to get the records,” said the source.

The transactions under the ED scanner featured a Mumbai-based firm allegedly associated with a retired air force officer and a retired government official, along with firms based in Singapore and Mauritius.

The Mauritius-based firm was earlier identified by investigators for its alleged links with key European middlemen, who had helped the choppers’ UK-based manufacturer AW Limited, and its parent Italian firm Finmeccanica, swing the Rs 3,747 crore 2010 deal.

The case’s money-laundering aspect is being probed by the ED while the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting a separate probe into allegations that bribes were paid to Indians to ease a key tender condition related to a chopper’s maximum flying capacity, service ceiling, which was reduced from 6,000 m to 4,500 m.

Singapore, along with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Mauritius, has so far also not responded to details sought on the scam’s money-trail sought by the CBI, according to an agency source.

Singapore is among eight countries through which the alleged bribe funds got routed to India via layered transactions to swing the Indian deal with the help of middlemen. The other seven countries are United Kingdom, British Virgin Island, Tunisia, Mauritius, UAE, Switzerland and Italy.