Tyagi family owns ex-Marshal of IAF, wrote Finmeccanica ex-director in a report

NEW DELHI: During negotiations between AgustaWestland and the Indian government for supply of 12 VVIP helicopters, a senior official of the firm's parent company Finmeccanica noted that then IAF chief S P Tyagi's family supported the Italian concern in its "VVIP programmes".

Ex-commercial director of Finmeccanica Paolo Pozzessere wrote a report titled 'Note on the Mission in India', in which he said "the Tyagi family supports us in the VVIP programmes", while referring to S P Tyagi and his family as a "high level lobby" and "opinion maker" (in India).

Referring to cousins of S P Tyagi — Sanjeev, Rajeev and Sandeep Tyagi — Pozzessere wrote that "the family owns" the ex-Marshal of the Indian Air Force.

The chargesheet, which the CBI court has taken cognisance of, strongly underlines the alleged role played by the former IAF chief in the deal. Pozzessere wrote that in particular, the 'VVIP' programme was confirmed (in favour of AgustaWestland) and the contract would be signed within the next three-four months. In its chargesheet filed on September 1 against S P Tyagi, former IAF vice-chief, Air Marshal J S Gujral, and seven others, including middlemen Christian Michel, the CBI said Pozzessere wrote this report on September 25, 2009. The probe confirmed that the chopper contract was indeed signed after around four months of the note being written, on February 8, 2010.

The CBI said the note was written around the time Tyagi had retired from the IAF. In fact, visiting cards of Finmeccanica officers — including its general manager Giorgio Zappa — were recovered from Tyagi's house during raids in 2013.

The CBI chargesheet said Zappa first met Tyagi in his office on February 15, 2005, soon after the latter became IAF chief, through middleman Guido Haschke. During the meeting, they discussed the operating ceiling of AgustaWestland's AW-101 helicopters.

Another representative of AgustaWestland, commercial executive Renzo Lunardi, met Tyagi in January 2006 at the residence of his cousins. Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, another middleman chargesheeted by the CBI, were known to the Tyagi family since 1995, the CBI chargesheet said.

The CBI probe found that crucial IAF and defence ministry documents reached AgustaWestland officials regularly.

"Christian Michel had sent three confidential documents — revised Operational Requirement (OR) of 2006, Evaluation Report of AgustaWestland's rival bidder Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, and contents of the technical committee's report of February 2007 — to Bruno Spagnolini (then CEO of AgustaWestland), Giuseppe Orsi (then chief of FinmeccanIca), one Giacomino Saporaro, Haschke and others.

"Michel was having contacts in MoD and IAF and, therefore, he procured confidential documents and secret information which he used to send from time to time," the CBI chargesheet said.

"Michel also got information about file movement of MoD/IAF files, including Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meetings with regard to instant helicopter procurement which was also sent by him to these persons from time to time," the chargesheet added.

The CBI said, "Christian Michel told AgustaWestland office-bearers that he was trying to disqualify the competition at a stage so that bids of Sikorsky are not opened". "The CBI usually goes into appeal in such cases but officials said that they will first closely examine the Allahabad HC order first and take a legal opinion in the same".