AgustaWestland deal: ED finds money trail in Israel, asks SP Tyagi for information

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked former IAF chief S P Tyagi, an accused in Rs 3,546 crore VVIP chopper scam, for his business transactions in five companies even as the money trail probe has revealed that bribes received from AgustaWestland in Italy were routed to a firm in Israel, most likely through IDS Tunisia.

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"The probe suggests that a company was formed in Israel as well and money was transferred there before it reached India," an ED official said.

The agency has already sent a letter rogatory to Israel seeking details of the dubious transaction and the company, and is now awaiting a reply. Apart from Israel, the ED has sent letters rogatory to Italy, Tunisia, the UK, Switzerland, the UAE, Singapore, Mauritius, Denmark and Finland.

Investigations revealed that after IDS Tunisia was incorporated, European middlemen Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke and Indian lawyer Gautam Khaitan allegedly received 24.6 million euros (approximately Rs 160 crore) from AgustaWestland Spa. Out of this amount, 3.88 million euros (Rs 24.60 crore) was transferred to Aeromatrix Info Solutions Pvt Ltd and 1.88 million euros (Rs 12 crore) to IDS Infotech India against invoices raised by these companies. The remaining amount of approximately 18.94 million euros (Rs 123 crore) was kept by IDS Tunisia and investigators have termed this as proceeds of crime.

Also read: From news break to in-depth analysis: ET first on chopper scandal

It was further revealed that out of 18.94 million euros, IDS Tunisia transferred 12.40 million euros (Rs 75 crore) to Interstellar Technology, Mauritius, which was controlled by Khaitan through M L Administrators, Mauritius. Besides, IDS Tunisia also transferred 30,000 euros (Rs 18 lakh) and 1.51 euros (Rs 9.8 crore) to Khaitan and Euromed, respectively.

The middlemen had allegedly opened a large number of fictitious companies in these countries to transfer the funds to India.

The bribe money, around Rs 362 crore, allegedly meant for Indian politicians, bureaucrats, IAF officers and Tyagi and his family, is slowly being linked to the accused persons, sources said.

The development comes even as a team of ED officials is expected to travel to Singapore to map the alleged money transfers.