Ex-IAF Chief Wrongly Charged By Agencies: Agusta Middleman Haschke

Exclusive | Ex-IAF chief SP Tyagi “did not do any corruptive act”, says AgustaWestland middleman Guido Haschke.

Former IAF chief SP Tyagi.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

“As far as Tyagi is concerned, that thing is really dead. In the sense that there is absolutely no way it can be said that he took money, because he did not.”

Guido Haschke, Middleman of AgustaWestland Case

In an exclusive interview to The Quint, Guido Haschke speaks on the various issues related to the AgustaWestland case – he clears doubts on the controversial budget note mentioning ‘AP’ and ‘Fam’, his relationship with Christian Michel as a middleman of the VVIP chopper deal, and the former IAF chief, SP Tyagi, who was chargesheeted by the CBI and ED in the case under bribery charges in 2016.

Haschke says that the Italian court failed to produce any evidence of bribery against Tyagi during the AgustaWestland hearing.

“When I was last interrogated in the court that was in October 2017, I was there as a pure witness under oath and I was asked, again for the umpteenth time, ‘did you make any payment to Shashi Tyagi, did you do any corruptive act?’. And I confirmed again and again that I didn’t pay anybody.”

Guido Haschke

To buttress his point, Haschke pointed out that he could have been arrested by the Italian court had his statement been found to be false.

“As I was under oath, if for some reason there had been opposing evidence or statements by some of the witnesses, or whatever else, I would have been arrested in court for making a false statement. In fact, the court took my statement as true and made it the basis of the judgment.”

Guido Haschke, AgustaWestland Middleman

‘Tyagi Did Not Take Money’

As far as Tyagi is concerned, that thing is really dead. In the sense that there is absolutely no way it can be said that he took money because he did not. And it’s a shame that they (agencies) blew it up to the point where each and every newspaper every now and then – because the guy did not do anything inappropriate at all.

Guido Haschke

Haschke said that he met Tyagi several times in Delhi to negotiate with him on the VVIP chopper deal, but insisted that the former IAF chief never said anything ‘inappropriate’ to him.

“Never even once had anybody hinted at any help that could come from him, zero. I was there in Delhi. I was there so many times when we were negotiating. I met the Air Chief a few times, and like I said, never, ever was anything said or done that was inappropriate in the slightest.”

Guido Haschke

Tyagi got bail from a Delhi lower court after being arrested and held for almost a month. Though the CBI and ED have filed a chargesheet against Tyagi, the agencies have so far failed to establish a money trail proving bribery.