The helicopter scam that came into recent news is a shameful story for the Indian defense. As per the policy, the defense production policy that was declared by India in year 2011, laid special emphasis on self production. The irony is that most Indian defence goods still continue to be imported.
The entire case of helicopter brand is about AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italian defence giant Finmeccanica signing a biased deal based with IAF chief Marshal Tyagi with the key role of his cousin Julie Tyagi. The case has so far been probed by Italian Government. But the CBI has taken over the investigation to find out the details of the procurement process when the helicopter deal was finalized in details. It is alleged that Marshal Tyagi was bribed a whooping sum of 51 million dollar EURO (approximating 362 crore) for signing up this deal with AgustaWestland.
The alleged keyplayers in the scam included guido Hascke and his co-partner Gerosa who belonged to the IT firm that had business links with Italian arms company Finmeccanica. The documents related the case shall be accessed from Italy where the CBI team has been sent.
Image Source: indileak.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Italian authorities arrested Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi, the main accused in this case and are questioning him for paying the bribe to the IAF officials to sway out the helicopter deal.
The Tyagi brothers, Julie Tyagi and cousin Marshal Tyagi were bribed through fake invoices generated in the name of Mohali and Chandigarh based IT firm –IDS Infotech. Aeromatrix works for AgustaWestland and its CEO Praveen Bakshi and most employees were on the payroll of IDS Infotech which is a fake company.
Finmeccanica group is controlled by Italian government and thus CBI is hopeful of getting required assistance in the probe of alleged bribery case for the helicopter deal. Senior officials from Italian judiciary have been contacted to get the report of their internal probe of the scam and to assess the roles of Indians involved in the controversial deal.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The deal was materialized with Julie Tyagi informing that operative height has been lowered to 15000ft. and that AgustaWestland could qualify for the bid. This was an indirect indication to the Finmeccanica group that they had won the deal. The final deal meetings with Marshal Tyagi where helicopters were discussed took place in 2006 in his cousin’s office. Haschke has not yet releaved that money was bribed to Marshal in this meeting.
The probe will continue until the faces of all those who participated and benefited financially or otherwise from this alleged deal is uncovered. Such scams show the gloomy picture of Indian Airforce which is seen with such respect and honor by the countrymen.
If such deals are carried out in personal interest, our country is never going to become self-sufficient in their ammunition and other defense related equipments. Such corrupt officials are draining the money out of our loved nation and defaming the nation.