VVIP chopper scam: Tyagi reveals more facts

NEW DELHI: Former IAF chief S P Tyagi is learnt to have admitted to more facts about favouring AgustaWestland in the VIP chopper deal during his questioning by the CBI for the third consecutive day on Wednesday.
Tyagi was reportedly asked detailed questions on middlemen Guido Ralph Haschke and Christian Michel, who were allegedly given the responsibility by the Anglo-Italian firm to send bribe money to India.Haschke has claimed that he met the then IAF chief 6-7 times.
Later, the CBI questioned Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, who is alleged to have formed shell companies to route the bribe money to India. Khaitan, who is a former board member of Aeromatrix which was allegedly used to route bribe money, is named in the CBI FIR as one of the accused.
The agency has also summoned then assistant chief of air staff (plans) N V Tyagi for examination. Sources said N V Tyagi was part of a team of senior officials who were involved in the deliberations to tweak the specifications of the helicopters meant to ferry VIPs, including the President and the Prime Minister.
The CBI has asked S P Tyagi to join the probe whenever he is summoned. The ED will interrogate him on Thursday.
The CBI has registered a case against Tyagi and 13 others, including his cousins and European middlemen. The allegation against the former IAF chief is that he favoured reducing the flying ceiling of the helicopters from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres which helped AgustaWestland enter the race for the deal.
Tyagi has denied allegations against him and said the change of specifications, which brought Agusta into contention, was a collective decision in which senior officers of IAF, SPG and other departments were involved.