Chopper scam: Eye on Rahul Gandhi's aide, ED calls boss of realty firm MGF for questioning

NEW DELHI: 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 TOI 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 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 SP Tyagi, facing "bribery" charges in the deal, will also be interrogated by the ED on Thursday.

During his interrogation with CBI on Tuesday, SP Tyagi is learnt to have admitted that he had a meeting with Finmeccanica COO 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 to 7 times, first time when a Finmeccanica team visited India. He later met SP Tyagi 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 the specifications — flying ceiling of 6,000 metres and a cabinet height of 1.8 metres — started from March 2005 in which senior officials of IAF, 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 AgustaWestland in contention for the deal. The CBI is also claiming 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.

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