NEW DELHI, Mar 6: CBI today started questioning cousins of former Air Chief S P Tyagi in connection with its ongoing probe into alleged kickbacks in the Rs 3600 crore VVIP helicopter deal.
CBI sources said Julie and Docsa Tyagi have been quizzed on their alleged association with European middlemen Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschkhe who have been accused by the Italian investigators for payment of illegal gratification to swing the deal in favour of AgustaWestland.
The sources said agency has already questioned executives of Indian arms of Aeromatrix and IDS Infotech—companies through which alleged bribe was routed from Mauritius and Tunisia in the garb of payments for engineering contracts.
In his probe report, the Italian prosecutor had said that Gerosa and Haschkhe had close contacts with former Air Chief’s family, particularly his three cousins—Julie, Docsa and Sandeep.
It had claimed that Haschkhe and Gerosa, through the Tyagi brothers, managed to change the tender details, modifying the ‘operational ceiling’ from 18,000 feet to 15,000 feet altitude, thus making AgustaWestland eligible to take part in the tender process.
The report also said that the duo managed to introduce a comparative flight trial with non-functional engine, thus facilitating AgustaWestland helicopters, the only ones which had three engines, swinging the deal in its favour.
The CEOs of the two Italian companies, arrested by local authorities, also paid the middlemen through a consultancy contract between AgustaWestland 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), the report said.
The former Air Chief and his three cousins have denied the allegations. (PTI)
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