Ex-IAF Chief Tyagi was bribed to swing chopper deal, says Italy probe

[kurup]

Why AgustaWestland VVIIPs Helciopter Bribery Case Had Raised Political Barometer in India & Italy?


NEW DELHI: Following are highlights of the AgustaWestland deal case currently razing Political furore in India and Italy:

1. AgustaWestland deal is worth about Rs 3600 crore for 12 VVIP helicopters, which the company signed with the Indian Air Force (IAF) in February 8, 2010.

2. Three of the 12 helicopters, which have a high safety rating, have been delivered to the IAF.

3. Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi appointed Guido Ralph Haschke to make sure that requirements were tweaked in favour of his company.

4. Haschke allegedly came in contact with former Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi's relatives - Juli, Dosca and Sandeep - with the help of his business partner Carlo Gerosa.

5. The bribe was allegedly given to former Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi through his cousins' for the deal.

6. The Italian report has alleged that 51 million euro kickbacks were paid between 2005 and 2011, during the UPA regime.

7. The kickbacks were paid in the form of monthly remittances disguised as payments for engineering contracts.

8. The payments were allegedly made through two companies - IDS India and IDS Tunisia - and no taxes were paid on the same.

9. SP Tyagi was the IAF chief between 2004 and 2007 and the bribe was offered to him during this period.

10. Italian investigation into the deal has thrown up name of Sanjeev Tyagi, cousin of SP Tyagi.

11. SP Tyagi has also dragged in some crucial names including Brajesh Mishra, the former National Security Advisor during the NDA regime.

12. According to the report the requirement that the bidding helicopters should be able to fly at a height of 18,000 feet was reduced to 15,000 feet so that AgustaWestland helicopter could become eligible.

13. Bribe was also allegedly paid to add a clause of test flights which enabled AgustaWestland to take part in the tender with a third engine.

14. Allegedly, Rs 370 crore was paid as bribe in the deal which is worth Rs 3546 crore out of which almost Rs 200 crore was paid as bribe in Italy and India through a defence middleman Christian Michael, who was in London.

15. The investigation into Finmeccanica, which started more than a year ago, is one of a series of corruption scandals in defence dealmaking in India.

16. Giuseppe Orsi, the head of Italian defence and aerospace giant Finmeccanica, was arrested on Monday in relation to a probe into international corruption.

17. The arrests over Indian bribery allegations come as Finmeccanica unit Alenia Aermacchi hopes to compete for a contract to supply over 50 military transport aircraft to India in competition with European aerospace group EADS.

18. Former Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy has denied receiving any letter from the Prime Minister's Office in 2003 on the AgustaWestland chopper deal.

19. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Defence Minister Jaswant Singh has defended the NDA government's decision to change the chopper deal norms in 2003, saying it was taken for purely professional reasons.

20. The Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland chopper deal has now been put on hold by the government.

India Defense Today - Why AgustaWestland VVIIPs Helciopter Bribery Case Had Raised Political Barometer in India & Italy?

 

[arp2041]

None of those mentioned aircrafts are in the IAF fleet yet. IAF is still flying 3rd gen airframes that are older than the pilots who fly them. There is no reason why they could not have accepted the MK1 in the present specs, or even slightly lower specs, and then serial produced a hundred plus of them. They would have been better than half the present fleet in every respect, and the IAF's combat effectiveness in this decade would have been a lot more too. If the force was teeming with all those fancy aircrafts you mentioned, then they would have a justification for not inducting the LCA mk1 in numbers. As things stand, they are crying about falling numbers, and flying ancient aircrafts while they have a home grown multirole fourth gen fighter ready to go.

When PAF inducted the JF-17 in operational service, they didn't even have A2G capability.

Ya, u are absolutely right here, but the problem is that we are analyzing only for the present but not taking into account that every ac that IAF induct now will serve the force for atleast next 30-35 years, i.e. till 2040 or so, when every major AF will have majority of it's ac as 5th gen, so if we induct LCA as they are now or few years back they will soon become obsolescent compared to other modern day ac.

Well the good news is that nobody will go to prison just because the media tries and metaphorically crucifies them. It is unfortunate that there is a media trial and a lot of soundbytes against anyone the moment there is an allegation, but that is a general problem that everybody in India faces today, not just the servicemen. At least this just goes to show that even our armed forces chiefs are at par with everyone else. Anyway he won't be punished by a court of law because of the media frenzy. What we as citizens ought to do is to disregard these media trials, and regard everyone to be innocent until proven guilty after the due process of law. And hope that our media evolves beyond these screeching showtrials that pass for activism, and these shallow soundbytes on every show that passes as "debate".

Buddy, i know that no one gets punishment based on media trial, but what i was talking about was the Psychological impact that these media trial has & we are talking about the impact on the morale of Armed Forces in general & Air Force in Particular, this can't be ruled out, can it??

 

[axisofevil]

Like I said, BJP or CONgress...it doesn;t matter....both parties are corrupt to the core. When will you guys realize that? As much as I like Modi, the fact that he is runnng for and with the BJP means he is not serious about real change in India. Development with corruption is not the answer India seeks nor needs.

Tyagi is certainly no the first nor will he be the last but at some point, we all need to change the system that allows so mnay scams regardless of which political party is in office. Its ridiculous that we impotent to stop it.