Retired Air Chief Marshal and others asked to furnish bail bonds and surety of Rs 1 lakh each; matter related to a chopper scam related money laundering case
A Delhi court, on Wednesday (September 12), granted bail to former Air Force Chief SP Tyagi and others in a money laundering case related to the Rs 3600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.
Special judge Arvind Kumar granted bail to Air Chief Marshal (retired) SP Tyagi and his cousins allegedly involved in the case and asked them to furnish a bail bond of Rs. 1 lakh with one surety of the said amount. Bail was granted after Tyagi and the others appeared before the court after summons were issued against them.
The court had, on July 24, summoned former AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica directors Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, Air Chief Marshal (retd) Tyagi and others accused in the case.
The court had asked the accused to appear before it on September 12, while issuing fresh non-bailable warrants against Italian middlemen Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke and Dubai-based businessman Rajeev Saxena.
Besides the six, the court also summoned as accused, 28 Indian and foreign individuals and companies, including lawyer Gautam Khaitan, AgustaWestland and its parent company Finmeccanica SPA.
The court had passed directions after taking cognisance of the charge sheet, saying there was enough evidence against the accused in the matter relating to the alleged money laundering to the tune of around Euro 28 million.
The foreign individuals and firms named as accused in the case failed to appear before the court on Wednesday.
The Enforcement Directorate, in its charge sheet, has alleged that money was laundered through multiple foreign companies which were used as fronts to park alleged kickbacks.
On January 1, 2014, India had scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica’s British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of kickbacks of Rs. 423 crore paid by it to secure the deal.
Those summoned by the court include SP Tyagi and his cousins, Gautam Khaitan and his wife Ritu, Rajeev Saxena and his wife Shivani, both directors of two Dubai-based accused firms UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings, OP Khaitan and Co, International Mediterranean Consulting, Tunisia and Infotech Design Systems Gordian Services.
— India Legal Bureau, with inputs from PTI