3 arrested in India AgustaWestland case (2)

(ANSA) - New Delhi, December 9 - 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.