Choppergate: CBI may seek info from Singapore

The CBI, which is probing receipt of alleged kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP AgustaWestland deal, is likely to send Letters Rogatory (LR) to authorities in Singapore and Seychelles to seek details regarding certain monetary transactions under its scanner. The Seychelles and Singapore connections have emerged in the probe for the first time.

The CBI, which is probing receipt of alleged kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP AgustaWestland deal, is likely to send Letters Rogatory (LR) to authorities in Singapore and Seychelles to seek details regarding certain monetary transactions under its scanner. The Seychelles and Singapore connections have emerged in the probe for the first time.

“The probe has taken under its scanner certain transactions from an accused Tunisian firm to an intermediary firm in Mauritius, which in turn, routed the funds to a few other firms based in the same country as well as in Singapore and Seychelles,” said a CBI source. The alleged transactions were done through banks located in Port Louis in Mauritius, Victoria in Seychelles and in Singapore, said the source.

The details, once procured, would help in determining the nature of the transactions, said the source. The CBI has already requested, via LRs, authorities in United Kingdom, Italy, Tunisia and Mauritius details on the money-trail but is yet to get a response.

An Italian court recently handed out a two-year jail term to former Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi and its UK-based subsidiary AgustaWestland’s former boss Bruno Spagnolini for falsifying invoices, but cleared them of the more serious corruption charges in the deal.