Ex-IAF chief appears before court in chopper deal case

Former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi on Wednesday appeared before a court here in the multi-million dollar AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal case.

Apart from Tyagi, the former chief's cousin Sanjeev alias Julie, former Air Marshal J.S. Gujral and advocate Gautam Khaitan also appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Arvind Kumar.

Judge Kumar on October 11 asked the accused to appear in the court on December 20.

The court directed the CBI to give copies of its chargesheet to the accused and listed the matter for further hearing on May 30, 2018.

It also granted bail to Gujral asking him to furnish a bond of Rs 2 lakh and directed him not to leave the country without permission.

Meanwhile, Khaitan's advocate P.K. Dubey moved an application seeking permission for him to travel to Hong Kong and the Philippines in January 2018. The court will hear Khaitan's application on Friday.

The CBI also told the court that it has sent a request to extradite European alleged middleman Carlo Gerosa.

On September 1, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Tyagi, Sanjeev, Gujral, Khaitan, Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica's former chief Giuseppe Orsi, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and three European alleged middlemen Christian Michel, Guido Haschke and Gerosa, Finmeccanica's subsidiary AgustaWestland and IDS Infotech.

Orsi and Spagnolini have already been sentenced by an Italian court for bribing Indian officials to get the contract illegally.

Tyagi, who was the IAF chief from 2004 to 2007, his brother Sanjeev and Khaitan were allegedly involved in irregularities in the procurement of 12 AW-101 VVIP helicopters from the UK-based AgustaWestland.

They were arrested in December 2016. Currently, they are out on bail.

The CBI, which registered an FIR in the case on March 12, 2013, has alleged that Tyagi and the other accused received kickbacks from AgustaWestland to help the manufacturer win the contract.

The FIR mentioned charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI said the company was favoured in lieu of illegal gratification accepted through different companies in the name of consultancy services.

--IANS

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