Former Air Marshal J S Gujral granted bail in AgustaWestland chopper scam

Retired Air Marshal J S Gujral was on Wednesday granted bail by the Patiala House court in connection with the multi-million dollar AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam case.

Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge Arvind Kumar granted relief to Gujral on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh.

The court has directed Gujral not to leave the country without permission.

Former Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi his cousin Sanjeev alias Julie, Gujral, advocate Gautam Khaitan were among those who appeared before the CBI Court.

The court also directed the CBI to send copies of chargesheet to the accused persons and to list the matter for further hearing on May 30 next year.

The CBI also told the court that a request was already sent to extradite alleged European middleman Carlo Gerosa and it will soon send another.

Earlier on September 1, it had filed a chargesheet against retired Tyagi, Gujral and 10 others in the case.

The chargesheet, filed before a special court, also named as accused Sanjeev, Khaitan, Gerosa and Guido Haschke, alleged middlemen Christian Michel, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and former Finmeccanica chairman Giuseppe Orsi.

On July 29, a Delhi court reserved its order on the bail plea of Shivani Saxena, an accused in the case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier arrested Saxena, Director of Matrix Holdings Dubai, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in connection with the case.

Saxena is the wife of Rajeev Shamsher Bahadur Saxena, a resident of Palm Jumeira, Dubai.

She is an active director of UHY Saxena, Dubai and Matrix Holdings, through which the proceeds of crime was routed.

The investigation conducted and various documents collected so far revealed that Agusta Westland International Ltd., U.K. paid an amount of Euro 58 million as kickbacks through Gordian Services Sarl, Tunisia and IDS Sarl, Tunisia.

These companies further syphoned off the said money in the name of consultancy contracts to the Interstellar Technologies Ltd., Mauritius and others, which were further transferred to UHY Saxena, Dubai, Matrix Holdings Ltd. Dubai and others.