Files with details of middleman’s meetings and transactions retrieved
New Delhi: Italian investigators probing alleged kickbacks in the Rs3,760-crore deal for 12 choppers for Indian VVIPs with Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland have stumbled upon a “Pandora’s box”. They claim to have recovered during a raid crucial documents and a hard drive from the computer of Swiss middleman Guido Haschke, which he stashed at his mother’s house, containing details of the deal.
They suspect that Haschke had tried to ‘clean up’ all information on the deal from his computer before hiding it in his mother’s house. But investigators managed to retrieve about a hundred PDF files containing minute details of his appointments, meetings with Indian intermediaries in Italy and Lugano as well as several international transactions, including that of Italian defence giant Finmeccanica, which clinched the deal for AgustaWestland, besides several documents in a suitcase.
Haschke is alleged to have been appointed by former Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi for bagging the deal.
A report in Italian newspaper Republica quoted an investigator saying the hard drive is “a real Pandora’s box”. “...in those files, there is a sea of international affairs, including those of Finmeccanica,” claimed the investigator.
Meanwhile in India, the central vigilance commission sought a report from the defence ministry on the alleged irregularities in the deal.
“He thought he had deleted everything, buried every track on the big business on behalf of Finmeccanica. He had ‘cleaned up’ his computer and he felt calm,” the daily said quoting the Italian investigators’ report.
It said the prosecutors in Italian court Tribunale de Busto Arsizio recovered the “computer hard drive of Haschke where the intermediary had recorded the whole story about the sale of helicopters and other business”.
The retrieved files which have particularly drawn both investigators and prosecutors’ attention are those named Anaconda and Swiss Mangusta.
The newspaper report said these documents and files will be used by the prosecution to “rebuild” responsibilities and roles of all accused in the scam. It added that Orsi’s complicity in allegedly paying Rs360 crore to bag the deal will also be determined from a “reading of the documents”.
The investigators went for Haschke’s computer based on an intercepted conversation between him and his partner and arms dealer, Carlo Gerosa, in which the Swiss mediator said: “They (investigators and prosecutors in Naples) most likely have nothing in hand.... we are maintaining a high level of alert. I cleaned every single piece of paper from my office. I cleaned out the computer completely. In fact, you know what I did? I removed the old computer I had and I took another where there is nothing. So even if you check the data deleted, [you] will not find anything and now, I’m deleting all the messages passed by the server in the office...”
CBI hires Italian lawyer: Meanwhile, the CBI has engaged a lawyer in Italy to represent India’s case with the Italian government and the local courts to find out the role of Indians in the alleged kickbacks.
Official sources on Sunday said a lawyer’s assistance is being taken to help understand the Italian law and to expedite the process of procurement of documents from the helicopter company, if necessary.
Deal to be focus during Cameron’s visit: Besides, British prime minister David Cameron is likely to be pressed for more information in this regard during his meetings with the leadership on Tuesday.
The 12 helicopters, three of which have already been delivered, are manufactured in south-west England. AgustaWestland used to be a UK firm but was later taken over by Finmeccanica. Cameron’s visit comes in the wake of India taking steps to scrap the chopper contract.
Courtesy:
Pradip R Sagar l @pradiprsagar
s_pradip@dnaindia.net
Published Date: Feb 18, 2013
http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=39331&boxid=25238&ed_date=2013-2-18&ed_code=820009&ed_page=3
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