ED names former IAF chief among 34 in AgustaWestland chargesheet
New Delhi, July 18 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday filed a chargesheet in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal against 34 individuals and foreign and Indian companies including former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi, his two cousins, advocate Gautam Khaitan and Italians Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke.
While filing the chargesheet under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the ED informed the magistrate that money was laundered through "multiple foreign companies".
The court was told that "foreign companies were used as fronts to park alleged kickbacks".
The ED chargesheet named the former IAF chief's cousins Sanjeev Tyagi and Rajiv Tyagi along with Bruno Spagnolini, former CEO of AgustaWestland, and Giuseppe Orsi, the former chief of Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica.
Others named in the chargesheet are Rajeev Saxena, Director of Dubia-based firm Matrix Holdings, his wife Shivani Saxena and advocate Gautam Khaitan's wife Ritu Khaitan.
The chargesheet also names some Indian and foreign companies like Aeromatrix Info Solution Ltd, Windsor Group Holdings, Ismax International Ltd, Cricklewood Ltd, Long Lasting Ltd, Matrix Holding Pvt Ltd, UHY Saxena, Dubai Interstellar Technologies Ltd, O.P. Khaitan and Co International Mediterranean Consulting, Tunisia Infotech Design Systems, Gordian Services, Finmeccanica SPA and AgustaWestland.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) -- the prime investigating agency -- has already filed a chargesheet in the case.
On January 1, 2014, India cancelled the contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the IAF, over alleged breach of contractual obligations and on charges of paying kickbacks amounting to Rs 423 crore.
The CBI, which registered an FIR on March 12, 2013, alleged that S.P. Tyagi, who was the IAF chief from 2004 to 2007, and the other accused received kickbacks from AgustaWestland to help it win the contract.
The FIR mentioned charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
According to the CBI, S.P. Tyagi allegedly took bribes of several crores from AgustaWestland through the middlemen -- and a complex set of companies in several countries -- to change the specifications of the contract.
The operational flight ceiling of the choppers was reduced from 6,000 metres, as originally proposed, to 4,500 metres and the cabin height was brought down to 1.8 metres.
The twin modifications were allegedly meant to rig the deal in favour of AgustaWestland, which eventually walked away with the order to supply the 12 choppers for the Communication Squadron of the IAF to ferry the President, the Prime Minister and other VVIPs.
The CBI probe revealed that several payments were made to S.P. Tyagi by middlemen Haschke, Gerosa and Christian Michel James, whose name was not mentioned in the ED chargesheet.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Cong demands TN governor's sacking over his 'secularism is European concept' remark
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress Monday slammed as "outrageous and unacceptable" Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi's remark that "secularism is a European concept" and demanded his immediate sacking.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh claimed that Ravi is "only a trial balloon floater" and is echoing what Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to get done.
Ramesh's remarks came after Ravi said secularism is a European concept that evolved after a conflict between the church and the king whereas Bharat is a dharma-centric nation and therefore, it was not part of the Constitution but added during Emergency by "one insecure prime minister".
The Tamil Nadu governor, while addressing an event in the Kanyakumari district on Sunday, said a lot of frauds have been committed against the people of the country and one of those was a wrong interpretation of secularism.
Reacting to the remarks, Ramesh said, "This man, who has taken an oath on the Constitution and who -- inspite of his drumbeating -- remains a Constitutional functionary, should be sacked forthwith. He is a disgrace."
"This is not the first outrageous and unacceptable statement he has made. But he is only a trial balloon floater. He is echoing what the non-biological PM wants to get done," the Congress leader said.
Ravi had also said, "What does secularism mean? Secularism is a European concept, secularism is not a Bharatiya concept."
Decades later, during Emergency (1975-77), "one insecure prime minister," introduced secularism in the Constitution in order to appease some sections of people, the Governor alleged.
Indira Gandhi was the prime minister during Emergency.
Ravi further said that secularism emerged in Europe as there was a fight between the church and the king and in order to end this conflict, which went on for a long time, this concept was evolved.
At the time of Independence, when the Constitution was being drafted, a discussion came up on secularism and the Constituent Assembly rejected it observing that Bharat is a dharma-centric country and there has been no conflict, similar to what was witnessed in Europe, Ravi had claimed.
