The three cousins of retired Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi are being examined again by the Central Bureau of Investigation after Guido Ralph Haschke, one of the three alleged middlemen in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal being tried in an Italian court, said that funds were paid to “the family.”
For their part, the former Air Chief Marshal and his cousins, Julie, Docsa and Sandeep, have denied their involvement in the deal. Mr. Haschke recently told the Italian court that another alleged middleman, Christian Michel, explained to him in 2008 the financial provisioning, according to which 14 to 15 million euros were to be paid allegedly to Mr. Tyagi’s family.
“However, he has not clarified whether the money was to be paid for the VVIP chopper deal or under some other contract. We have to ascertain for what exactly the funds were allocated to the Tyagis and whether the amount was indeed transferred to them,” said a CBI official.
During recent court proceedings, the Italian prosecutors presented some notes seized from Mr. Haschke’s office indicating that 6 million euros were allegedly paid to “pol [politicians],” 8.4 million to “bur [bureaucrats]” and 6 million to some Indian “Air Force (Af)” officials. The notes were allegedly written in early 2008 at the London office of Mr. Michel, as disclosed by Mr. Haschke.
