How Corruption Crippled IAF Capabilities???
Before exploring other facets of AgustaWestland Scam or as it is famously known as The Choppergate, it should be understood how the deal was detrimental to IAF’s capabilities. There could be arguments that the deal was canceled and money was recovered but how did the deal itself happen if it did not serve its purpose to modernize IAF VVIP Helicopter fleet. As the Mi-8 VIP helicopters initially used had completed their technical life and had to be replaced with better helicopters which could eliminate the restrictions with the retired fleet of Helicopters. Few of the issues the older Helicopters had are as follows:
- Inability to fly at night.
- Cannot fly at altitudes above 2000m and inadequate for aerial survey of areas like Siachen and the Tiger Hill, which becomes critical during war like situations.
- Could not be much used to airlift provisions for army in case emergencies like war, or bad weather conditions.
Disadvantages of AgustaWestland (AW-101):
- It could fly to only about 3000 feet which means only 914 meters. Thus it was incapable in regards to reaching remote locations such as Tiger Hills, Siachen and other such locations.
IAF initially refused to budge and was adherent that the Helicopters procured through the deal must fly above the sealing of 18000 feet. Because of which AgustaWestland’s (AW-101) was found to have major Non-Conformance in regards to flight altitude and was not to be considered for the deal.
So by above information it could very well be understood that the deal adversely affected IAF. Had the corruption not been exposed in Italian courts the deal would have gone ahead and IAF would have to contend with AW-101 Helicopters which would not have served IAF’s purposes. Thus although they had replaced their old generation Helicopters, their capabilities would have been limited and the need for new Helicopters would have been arisen.
It suited the then Congress government which was overconfident of their win in 2014 General elections and replacing Manmohan Singh with Rahul Gandhi. Since it was their government deal, the facts would have easily been hidden and evidence destroyed as happened in the case of Coalgate scam, where files were burned or found to decomposed allegedly by rats.
Involvement of Gandhis in the Corruptions:
Wolfgang Max Richard Michel, father of Christian Michel promoted three companies— Entera Corporation, UCM International Trading Limited and Ferro-Imports Limited. Between 1987 and 1996, Entera Corporation is said to have earned more than £2 million from India which was due to his close friendship with Late Indira Gandhi. In 1982-83 when a question was raised in Indian Parliament as to who is Mr. Wolfgang Michel, she herself replied that she considered him to be a friend of India. Well of course as it was a time when the slogans of “India is Indira” and “Indira is India” were being raised.
From the above information it can be easily gathered that Indira Gandhi had close association with Christian Michel’s father. According to reports Christian Michel got ‘Mrs Gandhi’s’ number in 1996 by his father who was ‘close to the Gandhi family’. This relationship yielded fruits when the association helped Entera Corporation earn £2 million from India during Rajiv Gandhi’s Prime Ministership. It is an easy extrapolation that ties which were formed during Indira Gandhi’s era were successfully passed on to the next generation.
Entera Corporation went bankrupt in 2004, “with more than £1.3 million in debt”. Additionally, Christian Michel was barred from doing business in the UK for seven years. It is then when he shifted base to Dubai, where he floated Global Services FZE. It had been a difficult time for Christian Michel to get re-established and without help of powerful family like Gandhi’s who were running the government in India through a proxy, sometimes called Robot of Gandhis, he wouldn’t survive.
AgustaWestland, which could not make it to the list due to the higher ceiling, placed Christian Michel in charge of deal. His links with Gandhi family who could easily change the requirements of VVIP Chopper RFP were guarantee of his success. For Gandhi family too the deal became easy as the middlemen was from the family who had collaborated with Gandhi’s in past deals and helped shelve kickbacks in their coffers. The only real problem or obstacle was the then IAF chief. But as soon as the new Air Force Chief, S.P. Tyagi, joined the office Gandhi family applied pressure tactics to involve him in the deal so that he is bound to corruption and could not act as the whistleblower.
The 225-page judgement by the Milan Court of Appeals, accessed by ET, has a separate 17-page chapter on Tyagi that explained the grounds on which it came to the conclusion on the corruption of the “Indian public officer”. The Italian court order said that payments to Tyagi and his family – including three of his cousins, were made in cash and through wire transfers.
In light of the above judgement Tyagi’s role is in the corruption is proven beyond doubt but could he have done this without involvement of his political masters, or can he be the mastermind of the great loot? The answer is clear no! As it was risky for him to suddenly change IAF’s stand on the ceiling of the Helicopters. Also the deal was floated before his term started. It required powerful political master to manipulate the deal, he only had to agree to their terms and change the requirement, become the “Yes” man, and be party to kickbacks. Besides this, the name of “Mrs. Gandhi” appeared in the diaries of co-accused middlemen Guido Haschke and also in interrogation of Christian Michel by ED. Even former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh’s name finds mention in handwritten note recovered in March 2013 from former Finmeccanica head Giuseppe Orsi’s prison cell. “Call Monti or amb. Terracciano in my name to ask him to call the PM Singh,” the note said.
Italian court finds graft in Rs 3,565-crore AgustaWestland chopper deal. And Corruption took place in AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, former IAF chief SP Tyagi was involved: Italian court
Even Italian Court has complained that India’s reluctance during UPA-2 to share documents with investigators have become a drawback which has lead to the loop holes in the investigation and in re-trial the main accused Giuseppe Orsi, former chief executive of the state-controlled defence group, formerly known as Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, once at the head of helicopter unit AgustaWestland, were cleared of charges as “there isn’t sufficient proof”, according to the sentence read out in court.
So not only UPA-2 tempered with the proofs but became a roadblock in the investigation so as to safeguard the Gandhi Family.
Cancelling the deal timely was the masterstroke of UPA-2 as the bribes were already paid and after the corruption was exposed in Italian court if the deal was kept alive scion of Gandhi family could not have escaped unhurt. By cancelling the deal and not staying actively in the Government by holding any ministerial berth and still holding complete authority over decision making of Government they have ensured a pathway of maximum gain by minimum risk method and hence increased their wealth 100 folds through various scams.
The looters cum masters tried to save themselves but after extradition of Christian Michel, Maa-Beta won’t escape. They are already out on Bail in National Herald scam will not escape the judgement anymore, and soon will be behind the bars!
Jai Hind!
The Patriots 