AgustaWestland chopper case: CBI files charge sheet against ex-defence secy

The CBI has filed a charge sheet against former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, former Air Vice Marshal Jasbir Singh Panesar, and three other Indian Air Force (IAF) officers in connection with alleged irregularities in the ₹3,727-crore AgustaWestland chopper case.

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet against former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, former Air Vice Marshal Jasbir Singh Panesar, and three other Indian Air Force (IAF) officers in connection with alleged irregularities in the ₹3,727-crore AgustaWestland chopper scam, agency officials said on Wednesday.

Former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma.

The agency sought permission to prosecute Sharma, Panesar, and three other IAF officers, deputy chief test pilot SA Kunte, former wing commander Thomas Mathew, and former group captain N Santosh in March 2020.

The officials cited above said the sanction was recently granted by the government following which a supplementary charge sheet has been filed in the AgustaWestland case, naming five officials who played a key role in the controversial contract.

CBI has so far filed three charge sheets in the VVIP chopper case, including the latest against Sharma and four IAF officers. The first charge sheet was filed in September 2017, naming former IAF chief SP Tyagi and others, while a supplementary charge sheet was filed against British middleman Christian Michel in September 2020.

Sharma was joint secretary (air) in the defence ministry when the contract for supplying 12 VVIP helicopters was under consideration, and when operational requirements (OR) for the deal were being finalised. The contract — alleged violations and kickbacks in the deal became one of the biggest controversies during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime — was given to Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland in February 2010. The deal was eventually scrapped in 2014.

Sharma, now retired, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1976 batch, was later India’s defence secretary, between July 2011 and May 2013, and then the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India till 2017.

The words “JS Air” — an apparent reference to the designation joint secretary (air) — appeared repeatedly in Italian court judgments in the matter, as part of a note written by British middleman Michel, according to internal CBI documents seen by HT.

The investigation against Sharma revealed that he was part of all decisions taken right from March 2005, when IAF agreed for the first time to reduce the service ceiling of VVIP helicopters from 6,000 to 4,500 metres, till February 2010, when the contract was awarded to AgustaWestland, according to CBI documents reviewed by HT.

An official familiar with the probe said that Sharma, as JS (air), attended a crucial meeting on March 7, 2005 chaired by then deputy chief of air staff, JS Gujral, and various senior officials from the ministry and IAF including (now retired) Wing Commander SA Kunte, who was project officer for procuring choppers for VVIPs.

In this meeting, the previous Operational Requirement (OR) of 6,000 metres flying altitude was reduced to 4,500 metres. At the same meeting, according to the documents, the cabin height of helicopters was fixed at 180cm. It has been alleged that these changes in ORs made AgustaWestland AW-101 helicopters eligible for the contract. According to CBI, Gujral altered the specifications in the files to suit AgustaWestland which were approved by then IAF chief SP Tyagi. Tyagi has already been named in the first charge sheet, filed in September 2017.

When the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2005 — a process that governs any defence procurement including helicopters for VVIPs — came into effect from July 2005, Sharma (then JS (air)) sought the Special Protection Group’s comments on the latest ORs, according to the documents.

Sharma, the documents go on to reveal, was also part of the meeting in October 2005 in which SPG raised the requirement of helicopters from original eight to 12 choppers, a demand endorsed by IAF instantly.

By October 2005, the entire procurement cost of 12 VVIP choppers was assessed to be ₹792.82 crores, according to the documents.

The documents add that after the then defence minister approved the proposal on February 22, 2006, a request for proposal (RFP) was drafted, which was examined by air force officers over next few months and later “approved by SK Sharma”, who had become director general (acquisition) in the ministry by then, on September 21, 2006.

The RFP was issued to six vendors including AgustaWestland, US-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and France’s M/s European Aeronautic Defence Space Co.

The Technical Evaluation for two shortlisted helicopters, AgustaWestland’s AW-101 (previously known as EH-101) and Sikorsky’s S-92, was conducted between February and August 2007 by a technical evaluation committee (TEC) headed by then Group Captain N Santosh and the committee recommended a Field Evaluation Trial (FET) on both the choppers.

“Then Air Vice Marshal Jasbir Singh Panesar (at that time) submitted a note to Sharma requesting approval of TEC report for conducting field trials and get defence minister (Raksha Mantri’s) approval as well on two other deviations from original proposal– i.e. additional commercial bids and change in warranty clause,” the CBI documents said.

“Accordingly, TEC report was approved by S K Sharma (DG Acq) on December 26, 2007,” the documents added.

Subsequently, after the field trial approved AgustaWestland helicopters, a draft Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) note was submitted to the defence ministry on February 13, 2009 through SK Sharma.

The ministry of finance (MoF) gave an adverse opinion on the recommendation for awarding the contract to AgustaWestland as it felt that the cost negotiated at ₹3,727 crore was “abnormally high,” the CBI documents reveal.

However, Sharma, in a letter submitted to the former defence secretary on August 28, 2009, said that “whatever deviations were there, they had been deliberated carefully and got approved at the competent level”, the documents added.

“Sharma proposed to take up the case with MoF again and further proposed that since the requirement was for the VVIP squadron of the Air Force, it would be desirable that MoF is on board when the case is submitted for the consideration of CCS.”

After getting MoF on board, the final contract was signed with AgustaWestland in February 2010.

In an email response to HT in 2020, Sharma denied all the allegations against him. He said: “I had a long unblemished service record of over forty years and nobody can blame me for any malafide action or decision. I strongly and firmly deny any such frivolous allegation”. He didn’t respond to HT’s emailon Wednesday.

Panesar, Kunte, Mathew and Santosh could not be located for their comments.