New Delhi, Dec. 10: Arrested ex-air chief S.P. Tyagi today told a Delhi court the UPA government's controversial procurement of VVIP helicopters was a "collective" decision spearheaded by the then Prime Minister's Office.
He later told reporters that his arrest in the kickbacks case yesterday was a ploy by the Narendra Modi government to deflect attention from the demonetisation row.
"The air chief has no role in (such) procurements but the then PMO created a situation to make the air chief part of the procurement process," Tyagi's lawyer Hariharan told the court, which remanded his client in CBI custody till December 14.
Hariharan added: "This was a collective decision and was taken by the Prime Minister's Office but today they have thrust it upon me (Tyagi)."
A downcast Tyagi told the court: "When you are an air chief, you are all over TV but when you are arrested, you are gone."
The CBI told the court Tyagi had changed the specifications and tweaked norms to favour the AW101 helicopters made by Italian major Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland.
It alleged that the bribes in the Rs 3,600-crore deal had been routed through Tyagi and other beneficiaries.
Christian Michel, one of the foreign middlemen accused in the deal, had publicly suggested that Sonia Gandhi's adviser Ahmed Patel, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, current President Pranab Mukherjee and Congress politician Oscar Fernandes be questioned in the case.
Tyagi was the air force chief from January 1, 2005, till March 31, 2007. The contract to buy 12 AW101 helicopters to fly dignitaries such as the President and the Prime Minister was signed in February 2010.
Earlier this year, an Italian appellate court had said bribes had been paid and it was "inconceivable" that Tyagi did not participate in the corruption.
"We have documentary evidence that he (Tyagi) made huge investments since 2002 and bought a large number of agricultural plots," the agency told the court. "He was bound by government rules to disclose these but did not."
The CBI further said Tyagi had met middlemen and AgustaWestland officials at home with his cousins, who too are accused in the case.
One of the cousins, Sanjeev, and Tyagi's lawyer and consultant Gautam Khaitan too were arrested yesterday.
Standing in the dock in metropolitan magistrate Sujith Saurabh's court, Tyagi said with folded hands that he wanted to place a few facts before the court. "I have gone to the CBI office on every phone request and after getting summons and always cooperated with the probe. I'm not fleeing the country. Why do you (CBI) need to arrest me?" he said.
"I had started purchasing agricultural land since 2002 and I can account for it. If this is an argument for being a culprit, then I do not have anything to say."
The agency said Tyagi was "part of a deep-rooted conspiracy" and "the involvement of other public servants cannot be ruled out".
Khaitan's counsel opposed the CBI's remand plea saying the FIR was lodged over three years ago and no fresh grounds for arrest had emerged.
Tyagi's lawyer requested that the agency allow his client to take medicines for his heart ailment.
The decision to buy the choppers was taken in 1999 when George Fernandes was defence minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. The specifications were frozen in 2003. After the UPA came to power, the tender was floated in 2006 when Pranab Mukherjee was defence minister. The contract was signed in 2010 when A.K. Antony was defence minister and Mukherjee the finance minister. The contract was scrapped in February 2014.
Current air chief Arup Raha today said during a day's trip to Bengal that Tyagi's arrest would "affect the reputation" of the air force. "But the air force, army and navy will continue to serve the nation.... We are the fastest in taking corrective steps."
Additional reporting by Kinsuk Basu
