New Delhi:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will get detailed conversations of middlemen, taped by the Italian authorities in the VVIP chopper scam. CBI sources said the records are related to phone conversations which were tapped by Italian authorities who have quoted them in their preliminary inquiry report.
The documents would be received by the Defence Ministry and later, handed over to the investigating agency, the sources added.
An Italian investigation had disclosed that Anglo-Italian firm AugustaWestland (AW) and Finmeccanica had paid bribes worth nearly Rs 350 crores through a complex web of companies and middlemen to swing a 12-helicopter contract with India.
Former Air Force chief SP Tyagi and many others have been accused in the scam. The CBI says that Mr Tyagi is being investigated for misusing his official position for the AW deal, signed in 2010, and worth Rs 3,600 crores.
The agency alleges that it has found documents that suggest that he changed the Air Force's requirements for the helicopters to match AW's offerings, allowing it to beat two other competitors.
Mr Tyagi has pointed out in his defence that the contract was signed three years after he retired.