CBI establishes graft in Rs 3,600-crore VIP chopper deal

NEW DELHI: In what could be bad news for former Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi, the Central Bureau of Investigation has 'more or less' established the 'corruption' link in the Rs 3,600-crore VIP chopper deal scandal. Earlier this month, an Italian court sentenced chief of AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica's former chiefs - Bruno Spagnolini and Giuseppe Orsi - for "bribing Indian officials".

While analysing some 1,65,000 documents, which Italy shared with India for the first time last year in the form of a CD, the CBI has got crucial evidence which proves that AgustaWestland used corrupt practices to influence Indian officials, who favoured the company in lieu of huge cash bribes transferred to India through middlemen and also through a web of companies, sources said.

The same documents of Italian prosecutors, a senior officer said, have been taken into account by a Milan court while sentencing Orsi for 4.5 years and Spagnolini for four years respectively in corruption charge.

"They both are accused in CBI case as well and same evidence would be used by us now to soon file a final report in the case," said the officer.

The cache of documents, which were in Italian, has almost been translated by CBI and subsequently analysed by investigators. "These are the same documents which Italian prosecutors have used in the Milan court to press charges there. It makes our case very strong and shows the complete trail," said a top official.

The agency will also study the sentencing judgment of the Milan court. It is alleged that Indian officials were paid Rs 362 crore in bribes to swing the deal in favour of the Anglo-Italian firm. The Central Bureau of Investigation had named 13 persons and companies linked with the payments in its FIR.