'Choppergate': Are IAF Veterans Being Made Scapegoats?

When the IAF veterans' bail petition came up for hearing, in an unprecedented move, senior serving and retired Air Marshals and Air Vice Marshals rallied behind the accused officers and appeared before the court to give sureties for each, something that has never happened ever before.

By the end of the first decade of the new century, the Indian Air Force had started looking at replacing the ageing Mi-8 helicopter fleet deployed by the prestigious VVIP squadron based at the Palam airbase in New Delhi.

The entire process of selection and procurement went through during the Congress-led government and the deal finalised for supply of 12 Augusta-Westland EH-101 helicopters to the IAF at a cost of Rs 3.6 billion ($45 Million).

Pilots chosen to fly these machines were trained in Italy and the first three machines were delivered to the VVIP Communication Squadron in 2012.

These helicopters were to be utilised to carry the President, prime minister and other State guests and their entourage during their official visits to all parts of our country.

The controversy in the deal flared into the public domain in February 2013 with the arrest of Giuseppe Orsi, the CEO of Finmeccanica, Augusta-Westland's parent company in Italy, over alleged corruption and bribery charges.

Almost immediately, then defence minister A K Antony ordered a probe into the matter.

As per the CBI which investigated the case, a total of Rs 2.5 billion was received by various Indian politicians and government officials as kickbacks through accounts in the UK and UAE.

The Enforcement Directorate was also tasked for investigating the money trail in this scam, often referred to as the 'Choppergate Scam'.

In January 2014, the contract was finally cancelled by the government on grounds of breach of the 'pre-contract integrity pact' by the company and the three helicopters grounded at Palam airport, where they lie gathering dust to date.

Although the government has got back most of the money it spent due to the penalty clauses in the agreement, the investigation to bring the alleged perpetrators to book has continued over the past nine years.

The first CBI chargesheet named former air chief Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi (retd), his brother Sandeep Tyagi and Gautam Khaitan. Three years later, the CBI has not yet framed charges against the 'accused'.

A secondary charge-sheet was filed against the then defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma and IAF officers serving at Air Headquarters at that time.

All of these have since retired, of which three were members of the technical evaluation committee formed at Air HQ for the procurement process.

After a series of adjournments, the case finally came up for hearing on Saturday, July 3-, 2022, in the CBI court chaired by Judge Arvind Kumar.

After hearing the respondents, the judge granted the IAF veterans bail without the CBI objecting to it.

When the IAF veterans' bail petition came up for hearing, in an unprecedented move, senior serving and retired Air Marshals and Air Vice Marshals rallied behind the accused officers and appeared before the court to give sureties for each, something that has never happened ever before.

The presence of serving senior IAF officers standing surety gains significance especially in light of the fact that the sanction for prosecution under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code has not been obtained by the CBI from the ministry of defence.

Sources assert that no money trail has been found against Air Commodore N Santosh (retd), Air Commodore S A Kunte (retd) and Wing Commander Thomas Matthew (retd), the three involved in the technical evaluation committee and that these officers have had an impeccable record of service.

The sources point out that these officers were at a very low rung in the decision making process at Air HQ and had no direct say in the procurement process except for giving their opinions on technical and operational matters.

Are these IAF veterans being made scapegoats in the affair?

The next hearing of the case comes up on Friday, August 27, 2022.

Meanwhile, in the absence of a dedicated VVIP helicopter, as an interim measure, suitable modifications have been carried out on 6 Mi-17 V5 helicopters to ferry VVIPs on their tours of duty.

This is the same aircraft which crashed on December 8, 2021 with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and several serving officers and men on board at Wellington in the Nilgiris.

Pilots who have flown these machines say that these helicopters are much inferior to the EH-101, especially as far as avionics and safety is concerned.

Almost all our defence procurements in the past have been marred by scams, the investigations into which have not got the accused to book in most cases.

Unnecessary victimisation by the investigating agencies leads to further slowing down of procurement processes.

The junior officers in the chain who do all the file work would now be afraid of putting down their points of view fearing redressals later.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com