Eye on RaGa aide, ED calls MGF boss

By: Sameer K.

Initiating a probe into the alleged link of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s aide Kanishka Singh in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper scam, the Enforcement Directorate has issued summons to Shravan Gupta, promoter of MGF — a joint venture of Emaar-MGF — asking him to appear for questioning in three days.

ED sources told Gupta has been asked to join the probe to explain under what circumstances two middlemen of AgustaWestland — Guido Haschke and Gautam Khaitan — were on the board of directors of Emaar-MGF in 2009. The anti-money laundering probe agency is acting on a complaint received from BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who wrote to the CBI and ED asking them to “check” Kanishka Singh’s alleged links with the realty major.

Both Haschke and Khaitan were on the board of directors of Emaar-MGF for a very brief period, sometime Kanishka Singh with Rahul Gandhi. The ED is acting aon a complaint from BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who asked the agency along with the CBI to ‘check’ Singh’s alleged links with realty major Emaar-MGF in 2009. “We want to know from Shravan Gupta about the role Haschke and Khaitan played in the firm during the short stint,” said an officer.

Former IAF chief S P Tyagi, facing “bribery” charges in the deal, will also be interrogated by the ED on Thursday.

During his interrogation with the CBI on Tuesday, S P Tyagi is learnt to have admitted that he had a meeting with chief operating officer of Finmeccanica Georgio Zapa in Delhi on February 15, 2005. CBI officials said Tyagi was ‘evasive’ during his questioning on Monday but when he was shown various documents, including diary entries and visitors’ register, he accepted he met the Finmeccanica official.

According to officials, Haschke had met SP Tyagi 6-7 times, first time when a Fin- meccanica delegation visited India. He later met SP Tyagi along with Gerosa in Delhi in 2005 when the IAF ex-chief informed him that the height ceiling for the VVIP choppers had been reduced. The deliberations to alter specifications of the chopper — flying ceiling of 6,000 metres and a cabinet height of 1.8 metres — started from March 2005 in which senior officials of the IAF, the PMO and the defence ministry participated, according to government records.

These deliberations continued till September 2006 and suggestions to reduce the flying ceiling were accepted, which brought Finmeccanica’s UK subsidiary AgustaWestland in contention for the deal to sell12 choppers to India.

The CBI, which started investigations in 2013, is also claiming that it is still examining travel details of Tyagi and his meetings besides sources of funding for his travels. Sources said Tyagi has been called again on Wednesday when Gautam Khaitan will also be questioned.