Former IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi today refuted allegations that he was paid bribe to swing a Rs 3,600-crore deal for procuring 12 choppers from Italian firm Finmeccanica to ferry VVIPS.

“I am innocent. These allegations are totally baseless and I am denying them categorically. The deal was signed in 2010 whereas I retired in 2007 itself,” he said.

Asked if he had changed any specifications for the contract to favour Finmeccanica, Tyagi said: “staff qualitative requirements for the VVIP choppers were frozen in 2003, much before I assumed the office of Chief of Air Staff, and the IAF did not change any requirements after that.”

Asked about his relations with three alleged middlemen for the deal including one ‘former IAF officer Captain Tyagi’, the former Chief said he was his cousin but their relationship did not go beyond this.

Reports today suggested that the Italian investigators have alleged in a preliminary inquiry submitted in an Italian court that business conglomerate Finmeccanica bribed S.P. Tyagi when he was Chief of the Indian Air Force to swing the controversial AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal in favour of the company.

After the arrest of Finmeccanica’s head yesterday in Italy in connection with the controversial deal, the Defence Ministry here ordered a CBI probe into the charges.

Alleged scam

“I have been hit by a thunderstorm,” Tyagi told reporters on allegations that the Italian company had bribed him to swing the chopper deal in its favour.

Another scam unfolded with the arrest of the head of a state-controlled Italian aerospace company that is suspected of paying a bribe of about Rs 362 crore in India to get orders for helicopters to ferry Indian VVIPs, prompting the Government to order a CBI probe.

The Ministry of Defence has also decided to put on hold the receipt of the remaining nine of the 12 helicopters for which the Rs 3,600-crore deal was struck in 2010.

“Giuseppe Orsi, the head of Italian defence and aerospace giant Finmeccanica, was arrested on Monday in relation to a probe into international corruption. He is suspected of involvement in the payment of bribe regarding the sale to the Indian Government of 12 helicopters produced by Finmeccanica’s subsidiary AgustaWestland,” Italian news agency Ansa said.

“There is smoke,” Tyagi said while favouring a probe into the deal.

“When I became the Air chief in 2004 and in 2007, I retired, during that period no changes were made.

“According to my information, nothing was done which raises a suspicion from my side. But it is true if there are so many reports, then there is something in it.

“I don’t know what it is but all I can say is that it should be inquired. There should be an inquiry so that all the facts come out. I am not only ready for an inquiry but I want an inquiry,” he said

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