CBI gets choppergate documents

In a big boost to the AgustaWestland probe in India, the Italian prosecutors have delivered case documents consisting of around 110,000 pages and phone call recordings of ‘hundreds of hours’ to the CBI, sources told HT. Rajesh Ahuja reports.

In a big boost to the AgustaWestland probe in India, the Italian prosecutors have delivered case documents consisting of around 110,000 pages and phone call recordings of ‘hundreds of hours’ to the CBI, sources told HT.

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“After an order from the Milan court, the Italian prosecutors delivered all case documents and phone call recordings of the accused to the Indian embassy in Italy. Following that, a joint team of officials from the CBI and ministries of external affairs and defence has gone to Italy and has taken charge of the documents,” said a CBI official requesting anonymity.

AgustaWestland and its parent company Finmeccanica are facing trial on charges of paying bribes in Rs. 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal with India.

The CBI, meanwhile, is probing the role of former Air Force chief SP Tyagi and others, in the deal.

Sources say the case documents are in Italian and considering the huge number of pages, the CBI team has asked the local law firm engaged by the government to see which of the documents are necessary for the probe in India and get only those documents translated there itself.

Investigators say the phone conversations are mostly in English, so they can be transcribed in India.