The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to speed up probes in some corruption cases including the case of loan default by liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya and AgustaWestland corruption case.
Gujarat IPS officer Rakesh Asthana will head this SIT. Mr Asthana is police service officer of Gujarat cadre from 1984 batch. He has also headed the Gujarat SIT that investigated the burning of Sabarmati Express in Godhra in February 2002. He was part of the team that probed into the fodder scam in Bihar.
CBI is currently investigating why the state-run IDBI Bank Ltd approved a loan of Rs 900 crore to now-defunt Kingfisher Airlines, when the airline had a negative credit rating and negative net worth.
The agency is also investigating the bribery charges in the Rs 3,727-crore VVIP chopper deal. In AugustWestland case, CBI had registered a first information report in March 2013 to investigate allegations that some middlemen were used by AW Limited to bribe some influential Indians to tweak the deal in its favor. Since march 2013, CBI has sent formal request to eight countries to seek details of money-tail transactions.
Last month, the agency questioned former IAF chief SP Tyagi in connection with the case. Tyagi is accused of getting kickbacks through middlemen from the Italian firm. According to some reports, Tyagi had reportedly visited Milan, Florence, and Venice after retirement. The agency has also questioned several other persons in connection with the case. Tyagi’s cousins – Rajeev, Sanjeev, and Sandeep – as well as a
Delhi-based lawyer, Gautam Khaitan, are also under the agency’s scanner in connection with the case.
Last month, the Milan Court of Appeals gave details of how AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, paid bribes to some Indian officials through middlemen. The court order also mentioned Tyagi’s name at several points. The court found huge irregularities in the sale of 12 VVIP helicopters to India, and convicted the former heads of AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica.
According to Defence minister Manohar Parrikar, AugustaWestland was favored by the former government at “every stage of the acquisition process.”
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