The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday questioned former Air Chief SP Tyagi on the foreign remittances into his bank account after his retirement.
According to sources, CBI, which is investigating the over ₹3,600-crore VVIP chopper scam involving Italian company AgustaWestland, summoned the former Air Force chief for questioning on Monday and has asked him to furnish details of payments made into his bank accounts from abroad post-retirement.
The agency had simultaneously called Praveen Bakshi of Infotech and Pratap Agarwal of Aeromatrix, for interrogation on alleged charges of money laundering, and quizzed them on the nature of services provided by their firms to AgustaWestland.
Sources said Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan has been asked to appear before the agency again on Tuesday.
Khaitan had earlier admitted to having setting up a shell company – IDS Tunisia – that was instrumental in routing the kickbacks to India through various countries that were allegedly paid by AgustaWestland.
CBI sources had earlier said that Khaitan was being elusive and was concealing information on the financial transactions between his firm and the Italian chopper manufacturer.
ED team to Singapore Meanwhile the Enforcement Directorate is planning to send a probe team to Singapore to track the money trail allegedly involving top politicians, retired service personnel and bureaucrats.
The AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam has taken political centrestage after an Italian court’s recent verdict that observed “wrong-doing” in the chopper deal.
The verdict had attached a hand-written note by a middleman claiming to have paid bribes in India, including to some powerful politicians.