NEW DELHI, Dec 16: CBI will send a team to Italy only after perusing a report to be submitted by the Defence Ministry team, which is on a visit there, in connection with the ongoing trial in the Rs 3,600-crore chopper scam and questioning of alleged middleman Guido Haschke.
Sources in the agency said they were not in a hurry to send a team without getting to know how much Haschke had shared with the Defence Ministry officials who had been authorised by a court in Milan to quiz the accused.
The visiting team would be submitting a report to the Ministry which will be eventually shared with CBI which has registered a case naming several companies and people, including former Air Chief S P Tyagi. Tyagi has denied all wrong doings as alleged by CBI.
There have been references to initials of politicians and designations of bureaucrats in the draft budget allegedly prepared by the middlemen that earmarked 30 million Euros to swing the deal allegedly in favour of AgustaWestland.
The draft budget,presented by Italian prosecutors in one of the hearings earlier this month, showed entries earmarked for “AP” and “FAM” under the head of money for politicians and
“DS”, “JS AIR”, “AFA”, “DG Acquisition” under the bureaucrat head.
However, CBI sources said these entries did not have any meaning until or unless the alleged middleman gave a clarification, that too in front of judicial officer, about the meaning of the abbreviations and whether any payment had been made.
CBI has also sent Letters Rogatory to three countries– Italy, Tunisia and Mauritius–to obtain more details about the case including the routes allegedly used by companies to pump in money into India.
The judicial requests to Italy, Mauritius and Tunisia had sought details of financial transactions of the companies named in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP helicopter scam.
The Letters Rogatory also sought details of meetings of alleged middlemen and their interests in Indian and Tunisian companies, among others.
Top management of state-owned Italian firm Finmeccanica and its United Kingdom-based subsidiary AgustaWestland are facing trial in Italy for alleged corruption in supply of 12 VVIP helicopters to India.
The alleegd bribe in the Rs 3,600-crore contract was believed to have been routed through a company with subsidiaries in Tunisia and Mauritius, the sources said.
Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, former and current chief executives of AgustaWestland, respectively, are facing trial in Italy for alleged corruption.
Orsi was heading AgustaWestland when the deal was signed in 2010 and is now the chief executive officer of parent company Finmeccanica.
India has become a civil party in the ongoing trial in Italy which helped it in getting court documents submitted by Italian prosecutors in connection with the case. (PTI)
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