Former IAF chief SP Tyagi and 8 others have been named in the chargesheet.
The CBI filed its chargesheet Friday against nine persons, including former IAF Chief SP Tyagi, in the Agusta Westland VVIP chopper case before Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar in Patiala House court.
The chargesheet that runs into 30,000 pages mentions that the investigating agency identified the trail of 62 million Euros and that the deal resulted in a wrongful loss of 398.21 million Euros to the Indian Government.
Other names mentioned in the chargesheet include Retired Air Marshal JS Gujral, Tyagi’s cousin Sanjeev Tyagi and advocate Gautam Khaitan.
Among the foreign nationals listed are former Finmeccanica Chairman Jiuseppe Orsi, former Agusta Westland CEO Bruno Spagnolili, Guido Ralph Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and Christian Michel.
“The chargesheet says that Tyagi reduced the service ceiling for VVIP helicopters from 6000 meters to 4500 meters as mandatory that was earlier opposed on security grounds and also revised the conditions for procurement,” an official said, on condition of anonymity.
The reductions of the service ceiling allegedly allowed AgustaWestland to come into the picture as its helicopters did not qualify for submission of bids.
CBI sources said that Gautam Khaitan was the brain behind how the bribe money was routed to India and how several firms, through which the money travelled, came into existence. Source said that Khaitan acted as a middleman and had several shell companies abroad.
The money, the agency said, has been traced back to companies in Mauritius, Singapore, UAE, Tunisia, UK and British Virgin Island.
The CBI has booked the accused under sections of cheating, criminal conspiracy and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
A preliminary inquiry into the matter was started in 2013 and a regular case was filed on March 12, 2013.
Several persons are accused of accepting kickbacks from AgustaWestland so that the company won the Rs 3726 crore contract for the supply of 12 VVIP choppers. The chopper were meant for transporting the President and other VVIPs.