PUZZLE AgustaWestland signed fake deal with IDS Infotech to route R400 crore worth bribes
PAYBACK WAS FOR KEY MIDDLEMEN HASCKHE AND CARLO GEROSA, AND FOR FAMILY OF EX-AIR CHIEF SP TYAGI
NEW DELHI: It’s a real company, with real directors and an address in Chandigarh – but a “non-existent” deal that IDS Infotech allegedly struck with chopper manufacturer AgustaWestland in March 2007 has returned to haunt the 24-year-old IT services company.
The contract was for IT services that IDS Infotech never delivered to AgustaWestland. Instead, it was used by the British arms firm to route back R400 crore worth bribes for key middlemen Guido Ralph Hasckhe and Carlo Gerosa, and for the family of former air chief SP Tyagi, Italian investigators have told a court in a probe report.
Indian investigation sources have told HT that IDS Infotech hived off a subsidiary, Aeromatrix in 2009, which has Hasckhe and Gerosa as directors, along with Praveen Bakshi – also an executive vice president in IDS Infotech.
Another company — IDS Mauritius — owns 82.66% shares in Aeromatrix, while the directors own the remaining 17.33 % shares, the company’s annual returns show.
Investigators now suspect that AgustaWestland transferred the bribe money to IDS India through invoices for the fake contracts, which in turn routed the money via IDS Mauritius to Aeromatrix – and so to Hasckhe and eventually the Tyagis. Pratap Aggarwal,MD of IDS Infotech could not be reached, and Satish Bagrodia, another director on the company’s board, refused to comment.
Bakshi, the CEO of Aeromatrix has denied any link to the chopper deal. But Hasckhe and Gerosa appear to have pinned hopes on Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, who was a director on the Aeromatrix board till October 2012.
“Gautam (Khaitan) has a lot of good experience, an experience very strong,” Gerosa told Hasckhe on March 25, 2012 while returning from Milan airport, where they had gone to drop off Julie Tyagi, the former air chief’s cousin. “Praveen (Bakshi) is unlikely to (help).”
With inputs from Bhartesh Singh Thakur in Chandigarh
COURTESY:
16 Feb 2013
Hindustan Times (Mumbai)
Charu Sudan Kasturi and Rajesh Ahuja letters@hindustantimes.com
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
PAYBACK WAS FOR KEY MIDDLEMEN HASCKHE AND CARLO GEROSA, AND FOR FAMILY OF EX-AIR CHIEF SP TYAGI
NEW DELHI: It’s a real company, with real directors and an address in Chandigarh – but a “non-existent” deal that IDS Infotech allegedly struck with chopper manufacturer AgustaWestland in March 2007 has returned to haunt the 24-year-old IT services company.
The contract was for IT services that IDS Infotech never delivered to AgustaWestland. Instead, it was used by the British arms firm to route back R400 crore worth bribes for key middlemen Guido Ralph Hasckhe and Carlo Gerosa, and for the family of former air chief SP Tyagi, Italian investigators have told a court in a probe report.
Indian investigation sources have told HT that IDS Infotech hived off a subsidiary, Aeromatrix in 2009, which has Hasckhe and Gerosa as directors, along with Praveen Bakshi – also an executive vice president in IDS Infotech.
Another company — IDS Mauritius — owns 82.66% shares in Aeromatrix, while the directors own the remaining 17.33 % shares, the company’s annual returns show.
Investigators now suspect that AgustaWestland transferred the bribe money to IDS India through invoices for the fake contracts, which in turn routed the money via IDS Mauritius to Aeromatrix – and so to Hasckhe and eventually the Tyagis. Pratap Aggarwal,MD of IDS Infotech could not be reached, and Satish Bagrodia, another director on the company’s board, refused to comment.
Bakshi, the CEO of Aeromatrix has denied any link to the chopper deal. But Hasckhe and Gerosa appear to have pinned hopes on Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, who was a director on the Aeromatrix board till October 2012.
“Gautam (Khaitan) has a lot of good experience, an experience very strong,” Gerosa told Hasckhe on March 25, 2012 while returning from Milan airport, where they had gone to drop off Julie Tyagi, the former air chief’s cousin. “Praveen (Bakshi) is unlikely to (help).”
With inputs from Bhartesh Singh Thakur in Chandigarh
COURTESY:
16 Feb 2013
Hindustan Times (Mumbai)
Charu Sudan Kasturi and Rajesh Ahuja letters@hindustantimes.com
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
No comments:
Post a Comment