The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday filed a supplementary chargesheet against former Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, former Air Vice Marshal Jasbir Singh Panesar and three others in connection with the ₹3,700–crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case.
“They have been chargesheeted following receipt of the sanction to prosecute them in the case for alleged role in trying to favour the supplier during the tender process,” said a CBI official.
Among those named in the chargesheet are then Deputy Chief Test Pilot S.A. Kunte, then Wing Commander Thomas Mathew and then Group Captain N. Santosh, said the official.
Mr. Sharma was Joint Secretary (Air) in the Defence Ministry from 2003 to 2007 and held the post of Defence Secretary during 2011-13. He was the Comptroller General of India from May 2013 to September 2017.
The CBI had registered the case against retired Air Chief Marshal S. P. Tyagi and others on March 12, 2013, following a preliminary enquiry. Alleged middlemen Christian Michel, Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and former Finmeccanica chairman Giuseppe Orsi, besides Italian company Finmeccanica, its subsidiary AgustaWestland and IDS Tunisia were also named.
During the probe, in December 2016, the agency arrested Mr. Tyagi along with his cousin, Sanjeev Tyagi, and lawyer Gautam Khaitan. They were later released on bail.
Mr. Michel was extradited from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in December 2018 and since then he is in judicial custody. Another accused, Rajiv Saxena, was deported from the UAE in January 2019.
According to a Milan court order in the case, a note had been seized from Switzerland that mentioned several codewords, allegedly with respect to Indian officials. This aspect was also investigated by the agency and the Enforcement Directorate.
Based on its findings, in September 2020, the CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet against Mr. Michel, Mr. Saxena and 13 others. Earlier, in September 2017, the agency had chargesheeted the retired Air Chief Marshal, former Air Marshal J.S. Gujral and 10 others.
The agency has alleged that there was a conspiracy to swing the contract in favour of AgustaWestland for bribes. As alleged, the service ceiling requirement of the helicopter was lowered from 6,000 to 4,500 metres and the operational requirements were also revised for the purpose.
The contract for supply of 12 helicopters was signed in February 2010. However, it was cancelled by the Indian government in January 2014 following bribery allegations.
According to the agencies, about €70 million were channelled through various entities and a significant portion of it was used to bribe the Indian officials and others to ensure that the contract went to AgustaWestland. These entities were found to be located in the British Virgin Islands, Tunisia, the UAE, the U.K., Mauritius, Singapore and India.
The ED has also filed chargesheets against several persons and companies, which have been accused of money laundering.
