Decoding the Tunisia connection in #AgustaWestland scam
How an intermediary company IDS Tunisia was formed to facilitate payments into tax havens
Background
The Indian government, in 1999 decided to upgrade the helicopters that were used to fly the Very Very Important Person (VVIP)s. Tenders were called for the purchase of 6 helicopters and amongst the entries, it emerged that the French helicopter Eurocopter 225 (EC-225) was the only one that satisfied all the requirements. The then government did not want to end up in a single vendor option and therefore the specifications were changed. In the revised Request for Proposal (RFP) issued in 2006, the altitude requirement was reduced to 4,500 meters with a view to widening the vendor base and the cabin height of 1.8 meters was added to the specifications. Riding on the revised specifications, AgustaWestland not only made the cut but eventually went on to win the contract.Bribery charge
On April 9th, 2016, the Italian Appellate Court in Milan ruled thus:
- Giuseppe Orsi, CEO and president of Finmeccanica since 04.05.2011
- Guido Ralph Haschke, director and partner GADIT S.A. Lugano and GORDIAN SERVICES S.ar.l based in Tunis;
- Carlo Gerosa, the Haschke partner in the aforementioned members and
- Christian Michel, owner of GLOBAL SERVICE TRADE COMMERCE based in London and GLOBAL SERVICE FZE based in Dubai, the consultant AGUSTAWESTLAND S.p.A.
promised and actually corresponded, through the Tyagi brothers Juli, Docsa Tyagi and Sandeep Tyagi, to get the Air Chief Marshal Sashindra Pal Tyagi, Chief of the Indian Air Force from 2004 to 2007, to modify the tender in a manner favorable to AgustaWestland. The price to supply 12 helicopters was set at €556 million.
For several months AW paid IDS Tunisia…
Amonthly payment schedule of €510,000 was paid into a Tunisian companyIDS Tunisia from where the money was split as in the following picture below:
![Flow of Payments from AW]()
In a normal business, the services rendered by an entity (in this case, Aeromatrix) should be invoiced to the helicopter supplier AgustaWestland (AW) who in turn would pay it. But what really happened was the reverse!
The Court observed that “The operating procedures of the contract are peculiar: AW should send, as per contract, a ‘call off’ order to IDS, in fact, through GARAVAGLIA, which is the IDS interface; AW would send a ‘delivery report’ that is, a delivery report that Kamoun of IDS Tunisia, printed on IDS letterhead and resubmitted to AW, the same document is sent to Aeromatrix. Praveen of Aeromatrix drew up on the basis of that “delivery report” a “work order” and sent to IDS where Kamoun, in turn, copied it on the letterhead of IDS TUNISIA and sent it to AW. There was a “purchase order” of Agusta, a “delivery report” by IDS / Agusta, and finally a “work order” by IDS to AEROMATRIX that inevitably was backdated. It seems evident that the system functions in reverse, starting from the delivery of services to get the order of the same.
The money Aeromatrix got was used to pay engineers who were in Italy for the project to cover their boarding and lodging expenses. The judgment covers in detail how much the hourly rate of every active and passive personnel was and what was the real expense and a DELTA which got deposited intoInterstellar, a Mauritius company operated by Haschke and Gerosa. For the details, see the picture below, taken from Page 13 of the judgment.
![Monthly Payments]()
In a normal business, the services rendered by an entity (in this case, Aeromatrix) should be invoiced to the helicopter supplier AgustaWestland (AW) who in turn would pay it. But what really happened was the reverse!
The Court observed that “The operating procedures of the contract are peculiar: AW should send, as per contract, a ‘call off’ order to IDS, in fact, through GARAVAGLIA, which is the IDS interface; AW would send a ‘delivery report’ that is, a delivery report that Kamoun of IDS Tunisia, printed on IDS letterhead and resubmitted to AW, the same document is sent to Aeromatrix. Praveen of Aeromatrix drew up on the basis of that “delivery report” a “work order” and sent to IDS where Kamoun, in turn, copied it on the letterhead of IDS TUNISIA and sent it to AW. There was a “purchase order” of Agusta, a “delivery report” by IDS / Agusta, and finally a “work order” by IDS to AEROMATRIX that inevitably was backdated. It seems evident that the system functions in reverse, starting from the delivery of services to get the order of the same.
The money Aeromatrix got was used to pay engineers who were in Italy for the project to cover their boarding and lodging expenses. The judgment covers in detail how much the hourly rate of every active and passive personnel was and what was the real expense and a DELTA which got deposited intoInterstellar, a Mauritius company operated by Haschke and Gerosa. For the details, see the picture below, taken from Page 13 of the judgment.
Conclusions
Why was the IDS Tunisia company being used in the middle? So a large part of the “services” rendered could be siphoned into a Mauritius company whose accounts were being operated by Gautam Khaitan (Page 31). This typically means only Khaitan could control the outflows. IDS Tunisia, in turn, was being managed by IDS Infotech India. IDS Tunisia had no other customers other than AW. It was established in Tunisia as a shell to route payments to various destinations. The Criminal Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed an FIR against Finmeccanica, AW, IDS Infotech, Aeromatrix and IDS Mauritius. Note that both Haschke and Gerosa are on the board of Aeromatrix! In fact Gautam Khaitan too was on its board till the time articles about the scam started appearing in newspapers.
IDS stands for Infotech Design System. There were regular transfers of money from Interstellar Mauritius to IDS Mauritius, with amounts ranging from €50,000 to €250,000 (Page 132). The court further observes that IDS Mauritius owns Aeromatrix! Is your head spinning yet?
More revelations…
On Page 152, the court observes that €5 million was transferred in cash by Julie Tyagi into a Swiss company called Calumet, based in Lugano, Switzerland (finally the Swiss connection!) from Mauritius. Tyagi, in turn, transferred this money to Haschke. There is a long conversation between Gerosa and Haschke on why the amount was not €15 million…
Another interesting tidbit… AW CEO Orsi met with Haschke, Gerosa and Michel in Dubai on the 7th and 8th of May, 2011 to discuss a settlement of €28 million (equal to 5% of the contract value, a “success fee”) to the “family”, and €30 million to the “team”. Those of you who are sharp in math would have figured out that 5% amount multiplied by 20 matches the purchase price mentioned in the beginning of this post.
We know how the 30 million was to be distributed (Page 9). What about the €28 million to the “family”?
Note: Page numbers mentioned in brackets refer to the page numbers in the Italian Appellate Court judgment.
https://www.pgurus.com/decoding-tunisia-connection-agustawestland-scam/
Mohali firm's subsidiary with 1 staff routed Agusta kickbacks
Rohan Dua| TNN | May 18, 2016, 01.50 AM ISTCHANDIGARH: A Mohali-based firm's subsidiary in faraway Tunisia with just one employee was used to route kickbacks worth around Rs 160 crore (28 million euros) to Indian government officials, politicians and middlemen in the Rs 3,560 crore AgustaWestland chopper scam. This has been disclosed in the charge sheet that was submitted in a Milan court on April 4.
AgustaWestland had allegedly signed a contract with IDS Tunisia, which is a subsidiary of IDS Infotech, for delivering software. The orders were shown as designs of the fuselage of AW129 and AW139 chopper models. One of the contract's conditions was a monthly payment of 510,000 euros or Rs 3.14 crore in 2008 irrespective of software orders being billed.
According to the contract, one Kamoun Hedi was made director of IDS Tunisia. The Italian investigators point out that the "Tunisia firm had no other employee" apart from one Garavagalia Attilio, who worked as Hedi's secretary. Hedi later told the investigators that he had nothing to do with IDS Infotech director-cum-owner Pratap Aggarwal and Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan "except rubber-stamping and sending delivery reports on IDS letterhead to AgustaWestland".
The investigators further point out that when searches were being conducted on April 23, 2012, documents from Hedi showed "he had made payments to the various parties involved".
The charge sheet has called the contract mode "peculiar" and disclosed how two subsidiaries were created out of the Mohali firm, first in Tunisia - IDS Tunisia - and then in Chandigarh - Aeromatrix - in 2009 "to remunerate Indian government officials, politicians and middlemen Guido Haschke and Carlos Gerosa".
"In practice, there was a purchase order created for Agusta, then a delivery report was created in favour of IDS Tunisia and then finally a work order was shown from IDS to Aeromatrix. All these orders were inevitably backdated," say the investigation documents.
The charge sheet also says that though the contract between IDS Tunisia and Agusta was signed on August 3, 2008, the first payment received by IDS Infotech is on August 14, 2007.
"It seems evident that that is the system functions in reverse, starting from the delivery of services to get the order of the same. In fact, the first act of this step should be the order by the purchase of services. But here the bills were generated and then orders were given."
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Saranathan Lakshminarasimhan
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chennai-3 hours ago
brought shame to the nation
Scam after scam, UPA rocks! ha! Must have learned from their partner - Karunanidhi from South - the founder of scams. Yet he is running for another CM post.
SECULARism written all over since 1947 (Anti-Nationalism) - One GOD that is my GOD philosophy of NEHRU (Influenced by Christianeity & ISLAM to abuse and rebuke Hinduism) instead of Pluralism of HINDUism.
No! No! Sonia is perfectly happy with all this!! She considers this as "revenge" against India!!
People of India should request Augusta corporate to lay all documents to identify the corrupt officials / politicians of India as great service to tax payers. May be we could address this to a NGO in Italy who take such issues An Indian delegation duly authorized / permitted by GOI can present it. Chances are it will be successful. Left these official channels one may not get all the documents because the criminals involved are hardened & experts at fudging all evidence.
Mrs.Sonia and her worthless son''s presence in India shows that the investigating authorities have not still reached the correct destination.
Very clever Bofors like deal,Arrest 3degree apply,automatically link will expose,Now whether money is still in In India or at Panama.
Robber Vadra created six shell companies so that all loot money cannot be legally proven. CONgress has mastered how not to leave any trail behind their scams and how to come clean if legally challenged.
What happens if ordinary citizens were involved. Police would lock them up and beat u up in specific places and hardcore criminals confess. We have the names. So why not. Infact show the confession live on national TV.
The scheme for the Chopper Scam was developed first and later the requirement of the Helicopters was thought and worked out to suit the level of Kick Back. Efforts for the scam was more than the efforts to design the Choppers.
There is an old doctrine -- to keep things under wrap less number of people is always better.
Even a common man knows that the main beneficiary is the mother and son duo. We the people are more interested as to when the law will catch up on them.
As much as I respect Modi and Company, I will be hugely disappointed if Sonia and rest of the Nehru garbage slips unpunished especially that monkey son in law if they indeed have done something wrong. It is not up to Modi''s discretion but his duty toward the nation to make an example out of them that no one is above law.
Any minister in MMS cabinet w/o approval of BM Sonia till such time she had full trust. Min was in Coalgate too.
I did not know there were such genus people working for congress party. If congress party have used these brains to develope the country, we never been such a third world country after all.
This the age old modus operandi of all the culprits all over the world. They create bogus companies in far off nations and immediately after money is transferred they wind up . Rogues didn''t even spare Defence deals, it''s really shameful .
All the scam money should be recovered from Italian bar maid and her Khangress party and all guilty should be put behind the bar, should be trialed publicly, these ba$tards are responsible for poverty, corruption and crime in India, hard working common India has been deprived of his basic needs
Tayagirothers and whole family loos to be involved in the Augusta deal and.have received bribe. The government should arrest them, they will spill the beans.
Let us all prepare the list of all those who are and with the khangress till date.
The fact of the matter is that Indians were involved receiving kickbacks and was paid by Augusta westland helicopters. Now in India CBI and ED did not do anything when UPA was in power is unacceptable. Now congress must turn approver and give the details.
SECULARism written all over since 1947 (Anti-Nationalism) - One GOD that is my GOD philosophy of NEHRU (Influenced by Christianeity & ISLAM to abuse and rebuke Hinduism) instead of Pluralism of HINDUism...............................
All those involved be given severe punishments, even the armed forces people, including the airforce chief if found guilty should have their medals and decorations removed
Was there a functional government before 2014? how can someone loot us like this? The perpetrators need to be identified and jailed to set a good precedence for such future Politicains & other learned people who were supporting them
Recover all the scam money from Italian bar maid and her Khangress party, all guilty should be trialed publicly and punished, Khangress party is responsible for pushing the most of India''s population in poverty, fueling corruption and crime. Khangress has deprived common Indian of his basic needs and robbed him .. time to demolish this congress for ever and out-throw this corrupt system. though we have good government in Center we need sensible opposition too .. congress is not even worth sitting ... Read More
The whole drama is unfolding on very familiar pattern. Lots of mudslinging, barking at each other etc. But no biting please. There appears to be an understanding amongst all political parties that they shall only bark and never bite each other. To further achieve their looting the judicial processes have been kept dysfunctional as though by design.
In a deal of 3560 C to a kickback of 160 C is minuscule. All political parties in helm of affairs will do. So BJP and other party do not make a fuss out of thi. Gt to business in parliament and get important bills like GST/ Land bill paaed, discuss how we can plan for economic development, get all infrastructure projects passes, ways to tackle terrorism looming in all crowded places especially in major metros, reducing overall population, employment for unskilled/semi skilled men/womwn, power availability, ... Read More
The whole drama is unfolding on very familiar pattern. Lots of mudslinging, barking at each other etc. But no biting please. There appears to be an understanding amongst all political parties that they shall only bark and never bite each other. To further achieve their looting the judicial processes have been kept dysfunctional as though by design.
In a deal of 3560 C to a kickback of 160 C is minuscule. All political parties in helm of affairs will do. So BJP and other party do not make a fuss out of thi. Gt to business in parliament and get important bills like GST/ Land bill paaed, discuss how we can plan for economic development, get all infrastructure projects passes, ways to tackle terrorism looming in all crowded places especially in major metros, reducing overall population, employment for unskilled/semi skilled men/womwn, power availability, ... Read More
Seems that there will be plenty of politicians and other big wigs running to the UK and Italy just like SHAMELESS Lalit Modi AND BAS$ard Vijay Mallya... Hopefully the Govt will be prepared they fly or run away
Great exposure of high profile involvement and supreme remote command is ckearly the main beneficiary. Very crude accounting jugglery of bills raised and orders given. Who will pay VAT, service tax , penalty, etc which would have heaped on ordinary citizens . Catch them on bribe takers and execute them
The Indian Borders have now been sealed. No one from Khan-Gress can escape the wrath of 1.28 billion Indians now! It will be interesting to see the flock of Italian and birds migration plan back home-:)
Rs 160 crores is tip of iceberg! The price of choppers was escalated to feed the corrupt con pigs! Name Signora Gandhi had been mentioned four times was referred to as the ''main driving force''! This deal is epic proof of corruption by Congress and Sonia Gandhi.
Fools are voting for Congress and we are suffering because of these fools. Investing agencies also afraid of politicians and officials, therefore not disclosing their names.
The investigating authorities are still behind the bribe givers. We want to know the people who received bribes.
But Feku will only raid AAP, not these criminals cause he is not interested in killing corruption, but ti kill opposition.. shame on BJP anf Feky Modi
Indian politicians have so much time to waste material. Time in which can be used for public development for which they are given votes but they waste public money for interior tussle.
Indian politicians have so much time to waste material. Time in which can be used for public development for which they are given votes but they waste public money for interior tussle.
Hardened criminals at work is seen from the way Indian Tax payers money has been looted. Indian people could appeal to Augusta to lay all the documents/ transactions open to India through an NGO in Italy/India. The services of NGO/Augusta will be gratefully appreciated by all honest citizens of India, if not these corrupts will fudge all the evidence using Italian Mafia...
AgustaWestland probe: CBI to question wife of accused
By editor
Created 16 May 2016 - 00:00
[1]Former Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi arriving at the CBI headquarters in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)
Sources said, “Probe has revealed that 24.37 million euros were allegedly transferred from AgustaWestland to IDS (Tunisia), the firm which is an accused in the case”. However, of this, only 1.88 million euros were transferred to IDS Infotech Chandigarh and 3.88 million euros to Aeromatrix, they added. “Both firms, IDS Infotech (Chandigarh) and Aeromatrix are also accused in the case. CBI sleuths have found that apart from transfers made to IDS infotech Chandigarh and Aeromatrix, funds received by IDS Tunisa from AgustaWestland were routed to the actual beneficiaries through a Mauritius-based company, linked to an accused and his wife. Funds ($50,000) transferred from IDS Tunisia were allegedly received by the wife of an accused”, sources said adding that the agency will soon call her for questioning.
The CBI on March 13, 2013 had booked former IAF Chief S.P. Tyagi and 12 others under charges of bribery, cheating and corruption in the VVIP copter deal.
The former Air Chief, his cousins Sanjeev, alias Julie, Rajeev, alias Docsa, and Sandeep, European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Christian Michel and Guido Haschke were among 13 individuals named in the FIR as accused. Besides, the CBI also booked brother of former Union Minister Santosh Bagrodia, Satish Bagrodia, and Pratap Aggarwal, Chairman and Managing Director of IDS Infotech. Six companies including Italy-based Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland, Mohali-based IDS Infotech, Chandigarh based Aeromatrix, IDS Tunisia and IDS Mauritius had also been booked by the CBI in its FIR.
The agency had frozen bank accounts of eight Indians, including former IAF chief and three of his cousins, named as accused in the FIR. The CBI alleged that AgustaWestland managed to introduce a comparative flight trial with non-functional engine and eventually succeeded in getting the contract for supply of 12 AW-101 VVIP helicopters from the Defence Ministry mainly due to softening of the IAF on service ceiling after Tyagi took over as its Chief. The agency also alleged that Italian middleman Guido Haschke, through his Tunisia-based company Gordian Services Sarl, entered into several consultancy contracts with AgustaWestland from 2004-05 and “almost on back-to-back basis he also made consultancy contracts with the Tyagi brothers (Tyagi’s cousins), sources said.
AgustaWestland: Money trail to Finland, Denmark, Norway under ED lens By: Vicky Nanjappa Updated: Tuesday, May 17, 2016, 13:31 [IST]
New Delhi, May 17: The Enforcement Directorate is speeding up the AgustaWestland probe. Over the past week the ED which is probing the money trail in this case along with the CBI has been engaged in a lot of paper work which included preparing an extradition request in the case of middleman, James Christian Michel and also information regarding the money trail from three countries. Both these files are being prepared on a priority basis, an officer with the Enforcement Directorate informed OneIndia. Michel who is in the UAE is required to be brought to India and questioned. In addition to this there is a money trail that has been detected to Norway, Finland and Denmark and details regarding the same has been sought, the ED also says. Speeding up the probe: The ED says that it does not want the probe to be stuck in a loop. Normally while dealing with foreign countries, the probe does tend to slow down due to technicalities. However we have a water tight case on hand and are hopeful that our requests would be heeded to, the officer also noted. The extradition of Michel alleged to have been appointed by AgustaWestland to bribe influential persons is a priority for the ED. Although he had offered through a television channel to cooperate in the probe, the ED feels he needs to be extradited. Michel had said that he would cooperate with the probe provided he is not arrested. The ED says, " we are going ahead with the extradition request. The television is not a medium for him to make such a request." The money trail: The ED is also hot on a money trail to three countries. Finland, Denmark and Norway are the three countries from which the ED has sought details. Out of the Rs 360 crore routed into India, there is a trail that connects the same to various countries. The ED has already sought information from the UK, Switzerland, Tunisia, UAE, Mauritius and Italy. So far Italy is the only country that has cooperated while the rest are yet to respond. The ED says that a fresh request is also being sent to Finland, Norway and Denmark where they have also found a money trail relating to this deal.
http://www.oneindia.com/india/agustawestland-money-trail-finland-denmark-norway-under-ed-lens-2101080.html
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brought shame to the nationSaranathan Lakshminarasimhan