Thursday, March 28, 2013

Agusta Westland Chopper SCAM: Ex-IAF chief briefed us on tender: Middlemen

Claim They Met Tyagi In Office, Influenced Him To Change Terms
New Delhi: The alleged middlemen in the deal for VVIP helicopters have claimed that the then Air Chief Marshal Shashi P Tyagi used to brief them on the developments in the tender, according to Italian investigators.

Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa have reportedly claimed the then IAF chief would keep them updated on the tender for the 12 helicopters during their meetings, which are believed to have taken place six to seven times — some of them in his office. Tyagi has maintained that he met only one of the middlemen once at the residence of his cousin.

They have also claimed that they managed to modify conditions of the tender, which made Agusta’s AW-101 eligible for the bid, according to a report filed by investigators in an Italian court. “Hashcke and Gerosa, through the Tyagi brothers, in turn through their cousin ACM S P Tyagi, managed to change the tender details, in a way to favour, modifying the ‘operational ceiling’ from 18,000 to 15,000 feet of altitude, thus allowing AgustaWestland spa...to take part in the tender,” the report said.

“They managed to introduce a comparative flight trial with non-functional engine, facilitating AgustaWestland helicopters, the only ones which had three engines. This way, they managed to get the contract to AgustaWestland,” the report said. PTI

WHY THE FUSS: BERLO
Bribes are a phenomenon that exists and it’s useless to deny... these necessary situations. These are not crimes. We’re talking about paying a commission to someone in that country... Why, because those are the rules in that country. The risk of magistrates intervening I consider to be a form of economic suicide

SHADOWY TRAIL
IDS India, named in Italian court filings as company through which chopper deal kickbacks were routed to India, does not show up in ministry of corporate affairs records
Suspicious links between 2 Chandigarh firms, IDS Infotech & Aeromatrix, and IDS Mauritius
Promoters of Aeromatrix—Gautam Khaitan, Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa—under scanner for role in kickbacks Paying

Kickbacks was Finmeccanica ex-CEO’s business philosophy?
New Delhi: Paying kickbacks was allegedly the “business philosophy” of former Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi who has been arrested for his role in the VVIP choppers scam for giving bribes to secure the Rs 3,600 crore deal.

Giuseppe, who has now been removed from his position after his arrest, had also asked his press secretary to reportedly pay money to engage 20 journalists for 30-40 months for improving the image of the company during the ongoing investigations, the report filed by Italian investigators said.

Giuseppe reportedly considered paying kickbacks as “business philosophy” and believed that he could have the prosecutor removed by attempting to bribe newspapers with “a million euro” for a print campaign compliant with Finmeccanica for improving the firm’s image, the report suggested.

The report alleged that Orsi and Spagnolini first paid Haschke and Gerosa Rs 2.8 crore through a consultancy contract between AW spa and Gordian Services, which in turn paid Rs 72 lakh of the amount to the three Tyagi brothers. PTI

150 crore paid as bribe’
Tyagi has denied any wrongdoing although he has admitted having met one of the alleged middlemen at the residence of his cousin. According to the investigators, 21 million euros (about Rs 150 crore) were paid as kickbacks under the cover of engineering contracts reportedly through companies IDS Tunisia and IDS India.

“There were other meetings at (IAF chief) Tyagi’s offices during the time when he was still in office. In these meetings there was me, Gerosa but no one from AW (AgustaWestland) or Finmeccanica. During these meetings, Marshal Tyagi used to tell us about developments in the tender,” ADR, one of the alleged middlemen, claimed.

The report suggests that the middlemen had close contacts with the family of Tyagi, particularly his three cousins. According to the report, the invoices issued by IDS India and Tunisia indicated in detail the giving of funds intended to reward the consultants and to remunerate India's corrupt public officials.

The arrested CEOs of the two companies had also “paid Guido Ralph Hashcke and Carlo Gerosa (two other alleged middlemen), through a consultancy contract between AW spa and Gordian Services Sarl an amount of 400,000 Euros (about Rs 2.8 crore), of which 100,000 Euros (Rs 72 lakh) were paid cash to the Tyagi brothers (Julie, Docsa and Sandeep.”

Tyagi has refuted allegations that he was paid bribes to swing a Rs 3,600-crore deal for procuring 12 choppers from Italian firm Finmeccanica to ferry VVIPS.

“I have been hit by a thunderstorm. I am innocent. These allegations are totally baseless and I am denying them categorically. The deal was signed in 2010 whereas I retired in 2007 itself,” he had said. After the arrest of Orsi and AgustaWestland and Spagnolini in Italy, India has put on hold the delivery of three AW-101 choppers to be delivered in March along with the remaining six. The payments for the choppers has also been stopped and defence ministry has stated that because of the integrity pact, it can get back all the money paid by it for the deal.

Defence Ministry A K Antony had already ordered a CBI probe in the matter, saying the guilty will be punished and the deal may be canceled if any wrongdoing is found. PTI
COURTESY:
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