VVIP chopper scam: CBI may get Agusta phone transcripts tomorrow

Italian authorities may hand over to the CBI tomorrow the crucial telephone transcripts in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP helicopter scam, a move which may help it in expediting the probe into the case.

According to highly-placed sources, the documents are expected to be handed over to Indian mission officials in Milan on Monday after which these would be sent here for scrutiny and ascertaining the role of middlemen and others in the case.

The transcripts, which are likely to be handed over to the CBI, would help it carry forward its probe in the Rs 362 crore bribery scandal in which the then Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi is also an accused, the sources said.

The records are crucial to the CBI probe as they reportedly contain several conversations related to the alleged remittances made to cousins of Tyagi and other middlemen to clinch the deal, they said.

The sources said a set of over 40,000 documents related to contours of money trail has already been received by the CBI from the Italian court after Defence Ministry became a civil party in the ongoing case in the European country.

However, they did not carry crucial phone conversations intercepted by the law enforcement agencies there.

CBI has also hired lawyers in Italy to represent it in the case.

With the help of phone intercepts, the agency wants to corroborate claims made in these conversations with the details of actual fund transfers to bolster its evidence against the accused in the chopper scam.

They said the records are related to phone conversations which were tapped by Italian authorities who have quoted them in their preliminary enquiry report on the basis of which they have started investigations into the alleged involvement of Italian company Finmeccanica, its UK-based subsidiary AgustaWestland and their top executives.