(This story was first published on 6 January 2017 and is being re-posted in light of reports that a Dubai court has ordered the extradition of Christian Michel, one of the three middlemen named in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case. Besides Michel, Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa are being probed by the ED and the CBI in the case.)
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In his FIRST EVER TELEPHONIC INTERVIEW TO ANY MEDIA ORGANISATION, Guido Haschke, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland chopper scam, has told The Quint THAT NO BRIBE WAS EVER PAID, OR ASKED FOR, BY FORMER AIR FORCE CHIEF SP TYAGI.
This runs counter to the CBI’s reported claim that Haschke, in his testimonies to an Italian court, had given details about the proportion of bribes paid to the former Air Force Chief and his cousins. This is what Haschke told The Quint:
Haschke Told Indian Govt in 2014 That No Bribe Was Paid To Tyagis
The Quint has also exclusively accessed Haschke’s statement recorded by Ariana Carlotti, the lawyer representing the Indian Government, on 23 January 2014. In this statement, too, Haschke denies paying bribes to SP Tyagi or his cousins.
Carlotti: I will ask a very direct question because you have already answered on this subject. Let’s talk about the money that was paid to the family, therefore to the Tyagi brothers and the cousin.
Haschke: No, to the Tyagi brothers. To the cousin, as far as I know, no money has been paid.
Carlotti: Therefore, you have no recollection of money paid?
Haschke: I have neither knowledge nor recollection evidently that any money was ever paid to the cousin.
Another key player in the chopper scam is British national Christian Michel, who allegedly acted as a middleman and conduit for AgustaWestland to pay bribes. A Red Corner Notice has been issued against him by Interpol on the request of both, ED and CBI. It is alleged that he paid bribes to various people, including journalists and bureaucrats, in the chopper deal. Though Haschke gives a clean chit to himself and the Tyagis, he did not vouch for Michel’s integrity in his interview to The Quint.
It has been alleged that the former Air Chief reduced the altitude ceiling of the helicopter from 6,000 m to 4,500 m, which helped AgustaWestland bag the tender for the VVIP choppers.
But the Italian court observed that neither Haschke nor Tyagi alone could have influenced the decision to lower the operating altitude.
Lowering of the operating altitude was a decision already voted and formalised by the authority. Neither Haschke, nor Tyagi alone, could have influenced the decision to lower the operating altitude since this decision was taken into consideration and evaluated by collegial entities before Tyagi assumed public duties.
Sources from within investigating agencies claim to have ‘established’ the money trail to the Tyagi brothers; Julie aka Sanjeev Tyagi, Docsa Tyagi and Sandeep Tyagi. But Haschke told The Quint that the Tyagi brothers were his business associates before the VVIP chopper deal, and were paid for services in a separate arbitration matter.
Haschke: The Tyagi brothers were our business partners way before the deal happened. They were compensated for services in connection to an arbitration matter. Do you think anyone in his right mind who wanted to pay a bribe, would do so through an officially recorded invoice?
Reporter: Could you tell us what kind of services were rendered by the Tyagi brothers?
Haschke: There was a complex arbitration for a power plant built in Tamil Nadu by an Italian company. It was part of the Finmeccanica group. That company was stuck in this arbitration matter for years. The Tyagi brothers helped us get out of this mess. They helped us in understanding how to help this company deal with this arbitration. It had nothing to do with AgustaWestland”
Meetings Between Haschke and Tyagi
While speaking to The Quint, Haschke and his counsel admitted meeting SP Tyagi thrice. Out of these, two were "official" meetings and the other was a "private" one.
The first "official" meeting between Haschke and Tyagi happened in February 2005 at the Air Force HQ in Delhi. Many others were at the meeting, including the head of Finmeccanica, G Zappa, and a team of Air Force officials.
The purpose of the meeting was to clarify the operational requirement of a VVIP chopper. It was an official meeting and had nothing to do with the AgustaWestland chopper deal. There were other Air Force officers in the meeting.Prashant Kumar, Lawyer, Guido Haschke
The Milan court judgment had pointed out that no corrupt practices could have possibly taken place in this meeting.
No corruptive meaning can be attributed to the meeting between Zappa and Tyagi (at which Haschke was also present), because at this stage the Request for Information was still ongoing.
According to his lawyer, Haschke’s second meeting with SP Tyagi happened in Bangalore during an Air Show. But there wasn’t any discussion related to the chopper deal at this meeting.
Haschke says a third private meeting with ACM SP Tyagi took place at Julie Tyagi’s residence in January 2006. One of AW’s top executives, Lunardi, was in India at the time. Procedures for a meeting with the IAF Chief are lengthy and since Lunardi was in India only for a couple of days, Haschke told The Quint that a short private meeting was arranged during which SP Tyagi requested that all documentation pertaining to the discussion be sent officially to his staff.
It was done purely for the sake of expediency and none of us had anything wrong in mind! This is proven by the request by ACM Tyagi that documents be sent officially to his staff subsequent to this meeting.Guido Haschke, Consultant
The CBI has questioned SP Tyagi several times. The former Air Chief and war veteran has also spent time at Tihar Jail. Former Air Chiefs, Vice-Chiefs, war heroes have spoken out in support of Tyagi, describing him as a scapegoat in a Congress vs BJP tussle.
Agencies have claimed they have evidence of the money trail leading to SP Tyagi. Part of this ‘evidence’ was to have been Haschke’s statements.
But with Haschke having told the Government of India in 2014, and now The Quint, that NO BRIBES WERE PAID TO SP TYAGI, the CBI’s claims are seriously dented.
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