Indian police on Friday
arrested former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi and two other
people in a probe into kickbacks on the purchase of 12 luxury
AgustaWestland helicopters to ferry VIPs, TV station CnnNews18
reported.
The other two are Sanjeev Tyagi, alias Julie Tyagi, S.P.
Tyagi's cousin, and a lawyer, Gautam Khaitan.
The three are suspected of taking bribes to get the
566-million-euro contract helicopter deal with the subsidiary of
Italy's aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica clinched.
In May India said it would cancel all its orders
with Finmeccanica over the case.
In April a Milan appeals court found former Finmeccanica CEO
and president Giuseppe Orsi guilty of corruption and sentenced
him to a prison term of four and a half years.
Former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini was handed a
four-year prison term.
Orsi denied wrongdoing, and resigned from the helm of the
State-controlled firm in 2013 after being arrested in relation
to the probe.
Both companies and their former executives have denied
wrongdoing.
India canceled the helicopter contract in January 2014 amid
allegations that the company paid kickbacks to Indian officials
and politicians.
India received three of the helicopters and stopped delivery
of the remaining nine.
India's defence ministry said the agreement was terminated
because an integrity pact was breached by AgustaWestland.
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