Ex-Air chief SP Tyagi blames then PMO in AgustaWestland scam
According to him, the then Prime Minister Office had tweaked the deal in favour of the UK-based helicopter maker.
SP Tyagi has been arrested in connection with the VVIP chopper deal scam.
Tyagi's lawyer said that in 2003, the Prime Minister's Office asked the air chief to get involved in the procurement of the VVIP choppers.
The lawyer said that in a meeting held in 2005, the changes in requirements were suggested.
Tyagi was quizzed over the scam in the past too.
An Italian court investigated the contract because Augusta's parent company is Finmeccanica, an Italian defence manufacturer, and decided that vast amounts of bribes were routed to India by company executives to land the deal for 12 VVIP helicopters for about Rs. 3,600 crore.
The deal was cancelled by India in 2014 after the Italians began investigating it, a point the Congress is flashing in its defence along with the fact that AgustaWestland has not been banned by the new government from bidding for new defence deals.
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