In its biggest ever corruption probe into defence agreements, Italy is investigating whether a commission of 51 million Euros was paid by helicopter manufacturer Agusta Westland to a Switzerland-based consultant for a deal to sell 12 VVIP helicopters to India.
Reports from Italy say that investigators have raided the offices of the consultant, Guido Ralph Haschke, in Switzerland after a former top employee of the helicopter company revealed that he was hired to “facilitate” the Rs 3,546-crore deal with India.
Haschke is well-known in the close-knit defence business circles in New Delhi. He is know to make frequent trips to India and is very familiar
Italy probes 51 m Euro ‘payoff’ to agent for copter deal with India with how the defence sector works. The 62-year-old consultant is believed to have dual citizenship of Switzerland and the US.
For India, the investigation can have bigger ramifications if it is established that an agent was indeed hired by the company to facilitate the VVIP helicopter contract. As per Indian laws, it is illegal for companies to hire agents for defence contracts. After The Indian Express reported about the Italian investigations in February, the Defence Ministry had instructed the Indian embassy in Rome to follow the probe and report back.
Haschke was also associated with the Emaar MGF group and as per SEBI records, was on its board of directors in 2009 and has been listed as an ‘Independent and Non Executive Director’ and Business Consultant. However, he is also mentioned to have resigned from the directorship the same year due to “personal reasons”.
Italian investigators are reported to have acted on the testimony of Lorenzo Borgogni, the former head of external relations of Finmeccanica — the parent company of Agusta Westland — in which he has alleged that Haschke was initially hired as an “intermediary” for a sum of 41 million Euros. This “compensation” was alleged to have been hiked at the last minute by 10 million Euros.
As per reports, Italian investigators are focusing on this escalation of 10 million Euros, that was allegedly used by the helicopter company officials to bribe Italian political parties for plum postings. Several documents regarding this agreement are reported to have been recovered by prosecutors who raided Haschke’s offices in Lugano, Switzerland.
THE DEAL
The VVIP chopper contract was won by Agusta Westland in February 2010 after its AW 101 helicopters ousted Sikorsky’s S-92 Superhawk in the contest to supply 12 helicopters that would be used by the Indian PM, President and other senior government functionaries. The value of the deal was revealed as Rs 3,546 crore by the Indian government. The Italian helicopters are set to join the increasing fleet of VVIP aircraft that already comprises five Embraer 135 jets and three Boeing VVIP aircraft.
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