The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that the three cousins of retired Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, who all are accused in the AgustaWestland case, were unable to give a satisfactory explanation on the foreign funds amounting to 3.26 lakh Euros they received from a Tunisian firm of a middleman in the deal. They knew two of the middlemen for over two decades.
In his statement to the ED, recorded in 2014-15 as part of the assets attachment proceedings, the retired Air Chief Marshal’s cousin Sanjeev Tyagi was director in two companies, partner in other two and proprietor of another company.
In 1995-96, Sanjeev came in contact with Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke of Switzerland, the middlemen named accused in the case. They also met him in India.
However, he denied having any agreement between his company Neel Krishan and Krishnayan, in which he is a partner with his brother Rajiv, with Haschke’s Tunisia-based company Gordian Services SARL that is also under investigation for routing kickbacks. According to the ED, the retired Air Chief Marshal was one of the partners in Krishnayan having 50 per cent partnership.
He, however, accepted the existence of two “Gordian” letters for the companies wherein the nature of job to be executed had been mentioned. The letter said that the Tunisian firm had retained his services for 3500 Euros per month and had given to him an advance of 1.26 lakh Euros for three years. However, there was no documentary evidence of meetings or performance report to that effect.
Sanjeev denied that he had received any money from Gordian Services before 2004. According to the ED, he accepted that records reveal Neel Krishan had received 99,616 Euros in July 2004 and Krishnan had received 26,103 Euros and 2 lakh Euros from Gordian Services in August 2004 and February 2005.
About the money received by his companies from Gordian Services, he stated that there was no agreement between his firms and the Tunisian company.
Over the years, he and his companies had acquired nine properties Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Kaushambi. “2006 onwards, they bought assets worth Rs.9 crore,” said an official.
In his statement, Sanjeev allegedly accepted that a major part of the amount received from Gordian Services was used for making investments and acquiring properties. He said 2006 onwards there was no business dealings with any of the firms belonging to Gerosa and Haschke.
During questioning, Sanjeev also allegedly disclosed that since 1997 he knew Gautam Khaitan, another accused arrested by ED in 2014 for helping the middlemen route funds on the pretext of engineering contracts.
The ED found that on the advice of their chartered accountant, he and his brothers had set up five companies, including Neel Madhav Consultant (P) Ltd, Krishanyan, Krishanom, Neel Krishan and Maivale Agency – which provided consultancy services in the fields of power, oil, gas, transportation and real-estate. No other person was working or hired by these firms.
Sanjeev’s brothers Rajiv and Sandeep, who like him denied the allegations against them made by Haschke and Gerosa in their statement to Italian authorities, also were unable to explain transfer of foreign funds to the companies concerned, the agency alleges.
