VVIP chopper deal: CBI sends fresh request to Italy to extradite Gerosa
New Delhi, June 25: The CBI has sent a fresh request for extradition of middleman Carlo Gerosa in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case to the Italian government through the Ministry of External Affairs here, sources said on Monday.
The move comes after Italy refused India's request to extradite Gerosa, saying it did not have any mutual legal assistance treaty.
A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) source related to the development said that under the Italian law, there is provision to extradite a person wanted in any case after fulfilling certain criteria.
"Thus, the CBI has reminded Italy about its law under which Gerosa can be extradited to India," he said.
He also said that the extradition request has been sent through the diplomatic channel.
According to CBI officials, Gerosa, 70, is one of the three alleged middlemen wanted in this case and his interrogation and statement is very important for both the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI, who are probing the case.
In October last year, Italian authorities, on the basis of an Interpol notice sought by the ED in connection with its money laundering probe in the choppers deal case, had arrested Gerosa but soon released him.
The ED had last year notified an Interpol red corner notice (RCN) against Gerosa and two others -- Briton Christian Michel James and Italian Guido Haschke.
The CBI has already filed a chargesheet in this case, in which the three are co-accused.
The CBI named former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev alias Julie, then IAF Vice Chief J.S. Gujral and advocate Gautam Khaitan as the four Indians in the chargesheet, which mentioned Khaitan as the "brain" behind the deal.
Others named are Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica's former chief Giuseppe Orsi, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and middlemen Michel, Haschke and Gerosa.
On January 1, 2014, India scrapped 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 charges of paying kickbacks to the tune of Rs 423 crore by it for securing the deal.
The CBI, which registered an FIR in the case on March 12, 2013, has alleged that Tyagi and the other accused received kickbacks from AgustaWestland to help it win the contract. The FIR mentioned charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The CBI said the company was favoured in lieu of illegal gratification accepted through different companies in the name of consultancy services.
According to the CBI, Tyagi took bribes of several crores, through middlemen and a complex route of companies in several countries, from AgustaWestland to change the specifications of the contract -- reducing the operational flight ceiling from 6,000 metres, as originally proposed, to 4,500 metres and bringing down the cabin height 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 12 choppers for the Communication Squadron of the IAF for ferrying the President, the Prime Minister and other VVIPs.
The CBI probe revealed that several payments were made to the Tyagis by Haschke, Gerosa and Michel as part of the alleged bribery.
Tyagi, who was IAF chief from 2004 to 2007, his cousin and Khaitan were arrested in December last year by the agency in connection with the case.
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.
Rare polar bear showed up on shores of Iceland. Police shot it
A rare polar bear that was spotted outside a cottage in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities said Friday.
The bear was killed Thursday afternoon in the northwest of Iceland after police consulted the Environment Agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, Westfjords Police Chief Helgi Jensson told The Associated Press.
“It's not something we like to do,” Jensson said. “In this case, as you can see in the picture, the bear was very close to a summer house. There was an old woman in there.”
The owner, who was alone, was frightened and locked herself upstairs as the bear rummaged through her garbage, Jensson said. She contacted her daughter in Reykjavik, the nation's capital, by satellite link, and called for help.
“She stayed there,” Jensson said, adding that other summer residents in the area had gone home. “She knew the danger.”
Polar bears are not native to Iceland but occasionally come ashore after traveling on ice floes from Greenland, according to Anna Sveinsdóttir, director of scientific collections at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. Many icebergs have been spotted off the north coast in the last few weeks.
Although attacks by polar bears on humans are extremely rare, a study in Wildlife Society Bulletin in 2017 said that the loss of sea ice from global warming has led more hungry bears to land, putting them in greater chance of conflicts with humans and leading to a greater risk to both.
Of 73 documented attacks by polar bears from 1870 to 2014 in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and United States — which killed 20 people and injured 63 — 15 occurred in the final five years of that period.
The bear shot on Thursday was the first one seen in the country since 2016. Sightings are relatively rare with only 600 recorded in Iceland since the ninth century.
While the bears are a protected species in Iceland and it's forbidden to kill one at sea, they can be killed if they pose a threat to humans or livestock.
After two bears arrived in 2008, a debate over killing the threatened species led the environment minister to appoint a task force to study the issue, the institute said. The task force concluded that killing vagrant bears was the most appropriate response.
The group said the nonnative species posed a threat to people and animals, and the cost of returning them to Greenland, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) away, was exorbitant. It also found there was a healthy bear population in east Greenland where any bear was likely to have come from.
The young bear, which weighed between 150 and 200 kilograms (300 to 400 pounds), will be taken to the institute to study. Scientists took samples from the bear Friday.
They will be checking for parasites and infections and evaluating its physical condition, such as the health of its organs and percentage of body fat, Sveinsdóttir said. The pelt and skull may be preserved for the institute's collection.
A Coast Guard helicopter surveyed the area where the bear was found to look for others but didn't find any, police said.
After the shot bear was taken away, the woman who reported it decided to stay longer in the village, Jensson said.
