VVIP chopper deal: ED questions ex-IAF Air Marshal Gautam Nayyar

NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) today questioned former IAF Air Marshal Gautam Nayyar in connection with its money laundering probe in the multi-crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal.

Sources said Air Marshal (retd) Nayyar was questioned by ED investigators for over eight hours as they also recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Nayyar did not talk to the waiting media after he emerged from the ED office here.

Sources said he "denied any wrongdoing in the entire deal as he said he was not in-charge of the procurement division of the IAF which handles new acquisitions."

The agency had summoned Nayyar as it had detected that the retired top IAF commander had got some funds allegedly from European middlemen and an accused in the case Christian Michel James.

"Nayyar was questioned about funds that have been remitted in his accounts reportedly by Michel or on his behest. The amount under suspicion is to the tune of Rs 80 lakh," sources said.

They said the agency had tracked these payments being made by Michel to Nayyar and his junior, a Group Captain rank officer, as "personal unexplained payments" which includes reimbursements made in connection with some foreign travels.

ED suspects the money received in a private consultancy firm floated by the former IAF officer had links to "kickbacks" paid by the Italian firm to crack the Rs 3,600 crore deal.