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Guido Haschke, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland deal, spoke to The Quint about key issues related to the alleged VVIP chopper scam.
In December 2018, one of the main accused in the case, Christian Michel, was extradited from Dubai. Agencies claim that Michel, an alleged middleman, had paid bribes to Indian politicians, bureaucrats and Indian Air Force officers to get the deal.
Haschke and Michel had worked together for the Italian company AgustaWestland to secure the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters by India.
Haschke, in the interview, said that he met SP Tyagi a few times on behalf of AgustaWestland while negotiations were on, but the former Air Force chief never said anything that was “inappropriate in the slightest.”
In the telephonic interview, Haschke spoke about the mysterious ‘budget note’, which was recovered by police from his mother’s residence in Switzerland. Amongst others, the note includes two acronyms – ‘AP’ and ‘Fam’ – but has no signature or date.
Indian investigative agencies consider it to be crucial evidence because they believe that the ‘note’ refers to senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel as ‘AP’ and the Gandhi family as ‘Fam’.
The ‘budget note’ purportedly mentions the break-up of 30 million Euros, of which over 50% allegedly was paid to ‘AP’ and ‘Fam’.
Haschke told The Quint that he wrote the note as Michel dictated it to him. He also said that Michel did not explain the details or the acronyms mentioned on the note, adding that: “Whatever claims of connections with the Gandhis, the family, in my opinion, are totally preposterous.”
Haschke also alleged that the prosecutor had tried to “trick” him into naming Ahmed Patel while he was being questioned as a witness in an Italian court in 2016.
Haschke and Michel parted ways after working together over the chopper deal. According to Haschke, Michel wanted to “aggrandise” his position by dropping the names of influential people.
Most of Michel’s claims made to AgustaWestland were “untrue” and “unreal”, Haschke said.
Haschke also said that the ‘budget note’ was nothing but a “figment” of Michel’s "imagination”.
The former Indian Air Force Chief SP Tyagi was chargesheeted and arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in December 2016. He was out on bail within a month.
Tyagi was accused of favouring AgustaWestland by reducing the parameter of ‘service ceiling’ or the maximum height at which choppers competing for the deal were expected to fly. In return, he allegedly received a bribe from the Italian company.
The prosecution in the Italian court failed to produce any evidence against Tyagi to show that he had received a bribe, Haschke said.
Haschke’s lawyer Prashant Kumar told The Quint that the alleged middleman, who is wanted in India in connection with the AgustaWestland deal, cannot be extradited.
Michel was sent to Delhi’s Tihar jail in January after being interrogated by CBI and ED for over a month.
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