A middleman only identified as ‘ADR’ in the Italian prosecutor’s report on allegations of corruption by Italian-state-owned Finmeccaninca, the parent company of AgustaWestland, in the sale of 12 VVIP helicopters to the Indian Air Force admitted that a pay off of `350 crore was part of a ‘consultancy fee’.
It also said that a part of that amount reached Tyagi brothers (Julie, Dosca and Sandeep), though the exact figure is yet to be quantified. ADR was quoted as saying he paid cash in Euros worth about `72 lakh to the Tyagi brothers directly. The reports also suggested that the rest of the pay-off was routed through tax havens as software and engineering contracts.
India had issued tenders for the 12 helicopters in 2006 when Air Chief Marshal Tyagi was in office, but the contract negotiations (2008-09) and the signing of the deal (2010) were done when other chiefs were at the helm.