BUSTO ARSIZIO, Italy, (Reuters) – Three brothers with family ties to a former head of the Indian air force helped to twist rules in a helicopter tender won by Italy’s AgustaWestland, prosecutors alleged in an arrest warrant for a top Italian businessman.
Italian prosecutors said in the warrant reviewed by Reuters yesterday that two managers at AgustaWestland, a unit of defence group Finmeccanica, paid go-betweens to help it win the 2010 contract to supply 12 helicopters to India.
Part of these payments ended up with the three Indian brothers, Juli, Docsa and Sandeep Tyagi, whose cousin Sashi Tyagi was former Indian air force chief. None of the Tyagis has been accused of wrongdoing by officials in India.
In a growing corruption scandal, police arrested yesterday AgustaWestland’s former chief executive Giuseppe Orsi, who now heads Finmeccanica. Orsi denies any wrongdoing over the 556-million-euro deal.
The case, which is still in its preliminary investigation phase, has rocked Italy before parliamentary elections on Feb. 24-25, and also in India, the world’s largest weapon importer.
