At least six public officials, including top defence ministry officials, are likely to be prosecuted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for their alleged involvement in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, The Economic Times reported.
The CBI has sought sanction to prosecute these officials who had “direct” involvement and allegedly tweaked the process to favour M/s AgustaWestland, sources told the paper.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
Their role has come to light now and the present chargesheet will reveal findings that emerged after the extradition and arrest of middleman Christian Michel from Dubai in December 2018, the sources added.
This chargesheet may also delay the case’s supplementary chargesheet which would bring to light involvement of more public servants, air force personnel and private individuals, the paper added. One source told ET that the CBI has “sufficient evidence” to substantiate its case.
In the 2017 chargesheet, CBI said the scam had caused the government a loss of 398.21 million euros. It named four Indians and five foreign nationals in its 30,000-page document.
The agency then, in its 2018 chargesheet, also named European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Michel James, Guido Haschke, former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and former Finmeccanica chairman Giuseppe Orsi.
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