Latest: Corruption and Money Laundering

Former Air Force chief SP Tyagi, 2 others arrested by CBI in AgustaWestland VVIP choppers deal case.

The CBI said all the three have been arrested over allegations of accepting illegal gratification for exercising influence through corrupt and or illegal means.

SP Tyagi

Former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi has been arrested by the CBI on charges of corruption in the Rs 3600-crore AgustaWestland helicopters deal case.

Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan and middleman Sanjeev Tyagi alias Julie Tyagi have also been arrested by the central probe agency.

The CBI said all the three have been arrested over allegations of accepting illegal gratification for exercising influence through corrupt and or illegal means.

"All the three accused have been arrested under Section 120B, Section 420 IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. They were called for questioning at the CBI headquarters," the agency said in a statement.

The CBI said its probe revealed that undue favours were shown to AgustaWestland Ltd, which accepted illegal vendors through middlemen including Sanjeev Tyagi, who is a relative of SP Tyagi.

Tyagi, his cousins Sanjeev, Rajiv and Sandeep and 10 others, including some European middlemen, were named in an FIR which the Central Bureau of Investigation had lodged in March 2013.

WHAT IS AGUSTAWESTLAND CHOPPER CASE?

The Agusta-Westland chopper deal scam refers Rs 360 crore allegedly paid as kickbacks by Finmeccanica, the parent firm of AgustaWestland, to clinch the deal for 12 VVIP helicopters for the Indian Air Force.

The payments were made in the "guise of" transactions for performing multiple work contracts in the country.

Tyagi was the Indian Air Force chief between 2005-07 when the VVIP chopper deal was being processed by the air force headquarters.

The Enforcement Directorate had lodged a case in July 2014 against SP Tyagi, businessman Gautam Khaitan, his wife Ritu, three Italian middlemen -- Christian Michel James, Guido Ralph Haschke and Carlo Gerosa -- and 13 others in the case.

Following the money trail, the agency discovered that Khaitan along with two middlemen Gerosa and Haschke were paid 28 million euro by AgustaWestland through IDS Tunisia.

THE CASE SO FAR

Earlier this year, an Italian court hearing the case had said there was "reasonable belief that corruption took place" in AgustaWestland deal for VVIP choppers in 2010 and that Tyagi was involved in it.

On April 8, the Milan Court of Appeals - equivalent to an Indian High Court - had ruled that the Agusta-Westland contract involved payoffs to Indian officials.

Overturning a lower court judgment that said corruption could not be proved, the court of appeals found Giuseppe Orsi, the powerful former chief of Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini - who headed chopper division AgustaWestland - guilty of international corruption and money laundering.

In its detailed order, the Italian court said payments in cash as well as through wire transfers were made to the Tyagi family - three of the former air chief's cousins - and a part of them were destined for the officer himself.

However, the former Indian Air Force chief did not depose before the Italian court.