CBI accesses AgustaWestland deal documents

In a major breakthrough, the CBI has managed to bring the AgustaWestland deal documents running into around 50,000 pages and phone call recordings of hundreds of hours from Italy to its headquarters in New Delhi. Rajesh Ahuja reports.

In a major breakthrough, the CBI has managed to bring the AgustaWestland deal documents running into around 50,000 pages and phone call recordings of hundreds of hours from Italy to its headquarters in New Delhi.

HT Image

“Joint director (JD) Prabodh Kumar went to Italy to bring the documents and phone conversations recorded by Italian investigators. Since these documents and conversations have been authenticated by the Indian embassy as received from Italian prosecutors, they can be used as evidence at the time of filing the charge sheet in the case,” said a source.

Italian prosecutors are conducting a trial in the AgustaWestland deal under which 12 choppers were to be procured by India for ferrying VVIPs.

Top executives of AgustaWestland and its Italian parent company Finmeccanica have been charged with paying a bribe of Rs. 362 crore in the Rs. 3,600-crore deal with India.

The CBI has also registered an FIR in AgustaWestland deal naming former air force chief SP Tyagi, his three cousins and nine others as accused in the case.

“Italian prosecutors have relied upon documents of around 110,000 pages. But with the help of a law firm engaged in Italy, we chose to take whatever was relevant for our probe,” said an investigator.

“These documents were delivered by the prosecutors to the Indian embassy in Italy after the trial court passed an order in this regard. Immediately, a team of officials from the ministry of defence and external affairs and the CBI left for Italy on June 29 and started the process of identifying documents relevant for our probe,” the investigator said.