CBI clueless: Italian judge ratifies plea-bargaining for Agustawestland middleman
Chitra Subramaniam| The News Minute| Geneva-Bangalore May 3, 2014| 8.30 am IST
In a major development in the Agustawestland investigations in Italy, it has now been confirmed that an Italian judge has approved plea-bargaining between middleman Guido Ralph Haschke and Italian prosecutors. This makes Haschke an approver in the case, who will be co-operating with investigations. It is the first sentence handed down in the AgustaWestland scandal that has rocked the Indian government, imprisoned Italian businessmen and raised questions in the United Kingdom about how and who negotiated and concluded the deal.
India’s Central Board of Investigation (CBI) said it was not aware of this development in Italy on April 14th, 2014. “I have not heard from official channels – and in any case it has nothing to do with us,” Ranjit Sinha, Director CBI told The News Minute (TNM) over the telephone on Friday. “It is a matter between the government of Italy and one of their citizens – if necessary we will implead ourselves in the case,” India’s top sleuth added.
Ranjit Sinha said India was investigating other aspects if the helicopter deal, but did not elaborate. When pressed for an answer, as bribes were paid to Indian officials, Sinha said he will be speaking to the concerned persons when necessary.
This attitude closely parallels that of the CBI during the Bofors investigations where Indian investigators never connected with Swedish investigators on similar grounds. The massive cover-up between New Delhi and Stockholm ensured that Swedish investigators could not interrogate recipients of the bribes.
In March 2013, the CBI filed an FIR against former IAF Chief S.P. Tyagi and 12 others for alleged cheating and indulging in a criminal conspiracy in the INR 3600 crore helicopter deal. AgustaWestland is a British-Italian multinational helicopter design and manufacturing company and it is a fully owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica. In January 2014, India’s defence ministry cancelled the contract with Agustawestland after it was found a pre-contract integrity pact could have been breached.
As is ritual, the CBI periodically rejects allegations from the media that it is dragging its feet. One such statement was issued on April 8th, 2014 asserting that cooperation with Italian prosecutors was robust and transparent.
How was the CBI clueless about mid-April 2014 decision then?
The CBI has been consistently mealy-mouthed about its work with Italian prosecutors and cooperation with them. Earlier, while speaking to TNM about his visit to the Vatican to attend a by-invitation-only meeting called “Religion and Law Enforcement,” Sinha had said India’s legal team in Milan, near Busto Aruzio, where court proceedings are underway, were fully apprised of the situation. Italy and India are yet to conclude the Letter Rogatory (LR) which would allow New Delhi to be a party to the case. To date, Italian prosecutors have been leading the work. Haschke, an Italian-American living in Switzerland was extradited from Switzerland in September 2013. Read- Ranjit Sinha, Vatican and Agustawestland
Mark Watts, Editor-in-Chief of the UK-based Exaro News which has been following the case closely also confirmed that plea bargaining arrangement which was entered into on April 2, 2014, was ratified by an Italian judge. “We can confirm that to be correct,” he said in a telephone conversation with TNM. “We have managed to establish that effectively the plea bargaining was agreed to by the Italian judge,” he added.
Following this development, Watts and his colleague David Pallister wrote that further pressure will mount on the government in Britain following this development as the government of Prime Minister James Cameron has been unwilling to help the Indian investigation. Read- Middleman on UK-India deal agrees plea bargain over bribes.
In May 2013, www.exaronews.com had reported that the UK was not assisting India in the investigations. Read- UK stalls over India's plea for help with bribery suggestion.
Under Italian law entering plea bargaining does not amount to admission of guilt but sources say Hashcke will be in a position to track and trace the bribes (50 million euros) that were paid to Indians and others for the 560 million euros deal between India and Augustla Westland for the sale of VVIP helicopters.
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