NEW DELHI: In March 2005, Tyagi brothers — Sanjeev, Rajeev and Sandeep — had received 2 lakh euros from Gordian Services SARL, a Tunisia based firm floated by key middlemen of VVIP chopper scam Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. When confronted by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate officials whether the money was kickback to swing VVIP chopper deal in favour of Italian firm Agustawestland, Tyagi brothers initially denied receiving any ill-gotten money.
“ Tyagis are hard nut to crack. We confronted them with letter rogatory response received from Tunisia to establish that over 3.5 lakh euros camouflaged as consultancy was channelised through Gordian to swing the deal in favour of Agusta. A huge amount of Rs 360 crore kickbacks was stashed abroad through complex transactions that involve shell companies and bank accounts located abroad,” the sources said adding that Tyagi’s and Khaitan will be quizzed on string of transfers since the documents now received from foreign agencies shows attempts was to obfuscate the source of the money in the deal.
A special CBI court on Wednesday extended the custody of former air chief S P Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi and lawyer Gautam Khaitan till Saturday.
Documents reviewed by Express reveals that all three Tyagi brothers — Sanjeev, Rajeev and Sandeep — allegedly held meeting with Swiss middlemen in Munich in June 2004. The meeting was convened after the deal with Gordian Services SARL was sealed. They had another round of meeting in 2004.
“Gordian Services SARL received 4 lakh euros from Agustawestland, out of which 1 lakh euro was paid in cash to Sanjeev Tygai. In March 2005, the deliberation for operational requirement between Indian Air Force, National Security Advisor, Special Protection Group and Ministry of Defence official had begun and changes including operational altitude was taken into consideration,” the documents said.
The documents in the ongoing criminal investigation also pointed out that Gautam Khaitan’s role in floating shell companies to park ill-gotten money has been established. In 2007, five false invoices worth 5,40,612 euros were raised by IDS India to IDS Tunisia. In 2008, 16 invoices worth 977,263 euros were raised by IDS India and were shown as liabilities by IDS Tunisia in annual tax return. In 2009 false liabilities to the tune of 507,988 euros through 19 invoices were shown by IDS Tunisia.
The details provided by Tunisian and Italian authorities link Khaitan inthe scam. A copy of transcripts of telephone intercepts shared by Italian authorities with Indian agencies named Khaitan. The conversation between Guido Haschke and Giovanni Zuchhini named Khaitan as the lawyer who floated the firm with the help of Haschke and Gerosa to launder funds. A source said Gautam Khaitan’s link with Haschke, Gerosa and Kummoun Hedi, a manager of IDS Tunisia, has already been proven.