‘Middlemen met Tyagi many times’

Italian investigators suspect that alleged middlemen and AgustaWestland functionaries suspected of paying kickbacks in the VVIP helicopter deal met former IAF Chief, Air Chief Marshal (Retd) S.P. Tyagi, several times when he was the IAF Chief. This could lead to a detailed probe of Air Chief Marshal Tyagi’s role just before the request for proposal (RFP) for the deal was issued in 2006, sources indicated on Wednesday. The former IAF chief has already said allegations of corruption levelled against him are baseless. AgustaWestland has also denied any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Italian prosecutors have alleged that three brothers related to the former IAF Chief helped to twist rules that helped AgustaWestland bag the deal to supply 12 helicopters for VVIP travel to India. According to a report by Reuters from Italy, Italian prosecutors have stated that two managers at AgustaWestland, a unit of defence group Finmeccanica, helped pay kickbacks for the deal. Part of these kickbacks went to the three brothers, Juli, Docsa and Sandeep Tyagi. Prosecutors in the northern Italian town of Busto Arsizio, said current Finmeccanica chief Giuseppe Orsi hired US-born Guido Ralph Haschke, who was then a consultant for the Finmeccanica group, to lead dealings in India to secure the contract. Mr Haschke and his partner Carlo Gerosa, prosecutors said, had close ties with the Tyagi brothers. Prosecutors alleged that Orsi, along with the current chief executive of AgustaWestland Bruno Spagnolini, paid 4 lakh euros in consultancy fees to Mr Haschke and Mr Gerosa. “Of this, one lakh euros in cash were given to the Tyagi brothers,” they said in the 65-page warrant. Other reports suggested that kickbacks were intended to be paid or eventually paid to Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Tyagi, during whose tenure the RFP for the deal was issued in 2006. The former IAF Chief has already said he is innocent but admitted that the three Tyagi brothers were his cousins. According to news agency, the former IAF Chief also admitted having met Carlo Gerosa once at his cousins’ place but said there was no wrongdoing.