Former IAF Chief Calls AgustaWestland Money Trail ‘Baseless’

Former Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi today strongly denied allegations that he was paid a multi-million dollar bribe to help AgustaWestland seal the VVIP helicopter deal. His statement comes a day after Finmeccanica CEO and Chief Executive Giuseppe Orsi was arrested in connection to the money laundering charges.  

"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 was quoted as saying.

However, despite Tyagi’s claims, Italian investigators have formally identified the former IAF chief to whom Finmeccanica paid bribes to.

The underhanded dealings were disclosed by Lorenzo Borgogni, former director of Institutional Relations at Finmeccanica to investigating magistrates. Under cross examination, Borgogni, said, “I can't tell you this with any accuracy, I only know that the payout was around forty-one million and I heard rumours in the company that Orsi had various meetings with this individual from Lugano (later clarified as HASCHKE) with a view to increasing the payout to fifty-one million”.

Following which, the Naples Court has listed as defendants in the bribery case, Giuseppe ORSI, known as Pippo, former managing director and chair of Finmeccanica, Bruno SPAGNOLINI, former head of AgustaWestland Holdings NV based in Holland, Guido Ralph HASCHKE, resident in Lugano, Switzerland, Carlo Valentino Ferdinando GEROSA, Italian and Swiss citizen, Michel CHRISTIAN, resident in London, PRAVEEN BAKSHI, Indian citizen, SANJEEV KUMAR TYAGI, Indian citizen, GAUTAM KHAITAN, Indian citizen, Paolo GIRASOLE, former director of Finmeccanica in India, Luciano FAVA, manager of Alenia Aermacchi India and Attilio GARAVAGLIA, former employee of AgustaWestland SpA, Renzo LUNARDI, managing director of WASS – Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei SpA, Finmeccanica Group and Francesco DIGENNARO, former AgustaWestland employee.

According to preliminary investigations, facilitators “promised and managed to pay, through brothers Julie Tyagi, Docsa Tyagi and Sandeep Tyagi, a certain amount of money, not yet quantified, to Air Chief Marshal Shashi Tyagi, Chief of Staff in the Indian Air Force from 2004 to 2007”.

Although the former IAF chief confirmed to being a close relative of Julie Tyagi, the Delhi-based businessman and consultant, he denied all business associations.

According to reports, the ‘money trail’ may not be easy to uncover since the kickbacks were paid in cash. In a recorded conversation (that Italian investigators have audio recordings of) Haschke tells Gerosa that if he were questioned by Indian courts about the alleged kickbacks, he would say that he blew up the money on “ballerinas and champagne”.

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�1� ��emso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>The helicopters which were already obsolete at that time did not perform well and India decided to scrap the deal. However, the GOI recovered no more £1 million from the original purchase which cost £65 million.  

In 2000, India sold its entire fleet of Westland helicopters back to Britain for just £900,000 citing technical failures.

The 14-seater Westland 30s was highly unreliable and a commercial disaster. Soon after their arrival in India in 1987 two helicopters crashed killing 10 people. Additionally, the choppers were found to be unsuited to the tropical climate, needed constant servicing and repairs, and were flown only sporadically.

Ultimately, nine helicopters were sent back to the UK to be stripped down for spare parts.

In the latest scandal, Italian authorities have arrested Finmeccanica Chairman and Chief Executive Giuseppe Orsi yesterday for corruption and embezzlement in relation to alleged bribes given to the Indian government.

India and AW finalized the deal worth $650 million in 2010 and has already taken delivery of three helicopters this year with the remaining 10 scheduled to arrive before 2015.