Choppergate: CBI files FIR against Tyagi

The Central Bureau of Investigation filed a criminal case on Wednesday against a former air force chief and 11 other people on charges of cheating and conspiracy in a $750-million helicopter deal. The CBI filed the charges under India's corruption prevention laws against Shashi Tyagi, three of his cousins and officials of four defence companies after an investigation revealed that huge bribes were paid to steer the contract to Italian defence group Finmeccanica's helicopter division, AgustaWestland. The agency searched the homes and offices of Tyagi and his cousins, who it suspects were among those who received bribes to clinch the purchase of 12 helicopters two years ago. Among the 12 people involved in the case is Satish Bagrodia, the brother of former federal minister Santosh Bagrodia, who belongs to India's ruling Congress party.A The CBI said it filed the criminal charges based on evidence it had gathered from the men and from documents it obtained from Italy and India's defence ministry that indicated that alterations were made in the helicopter specifications to favour AgustaWestland. The CBI raids were conducted by teams from Delhi at the offices of Aero-Matrix in Rajiv Gandhi Information Technology Park in Chandigarh and IDS Infotech in Mohali, 10 km from here.A The names of these two companies emerged in the controversy around India's $750-million AgustaWestland chopper deal with Italian company Finmeccanica. The choppers are for the VVIP squadron of the Indian Air Force (IAF) which ferries the President, Prime Minister and other top dignitaries.A There are allegations of kickbacks by Finmeccanica to the companies and high-profile people in India to clinch the deal. The bribe payments, as investigated by Italian probe agency, were allegedly routed to India through IDS Tunisia and IDS Mauritius. Investigators are yet to establish the curious link between IDS in Tunisia and Mauritius and IDS Infotech here. The balance sheets of IDS Infotech do provide a link to IDS Tunisia. Aero-Matrix was set up here in 2007 with Parveen Bakshi as its chief executive officer. Before this, Bakshi was working with IDS Infotech, which has entrepreneur Pratap Aggarwal as its managing director. Aero-Matrix records show links to Mauritius-based Infotech Design Systems Ltd. The defence ministry recently initiated action for cancellation of contract for procurement of 12 AW101 helicopters for the use of VVIPs.A The scam came to light when the Italian government arrested Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi for allegedly paying bribes to clinch the chopper deal. The inquiry into the helicopter contract began last month after Italian authorities arrested Giuseppe Orsi, the CEO of Finmeccanica, in Italy on charges that the company paid bribes in India. Orsi, who has been jailed, denies wrongdoing. Italian authorities also placed AgustaWestland chief Bruno Spagnolini under house arrest.A Tyagi has also denied any wrongdoing in the case and said decisions on the helicopter deal were made before he assumed the top job.