Chop-a-deal

"She is vague. She's fine, then angry, then she is all nice and sweet, then angry again...Now I have to think about what I should tell her...Somehow I have to explain to her what the f*#^ I earn from India," he says. When Gerosa responds by saying he can explain that they are doing a project together, Haschke says, "At some point in time, she will want to know what we do together, given that we go to India together."

In other recordings, besides talking about money being funnelled into India and discussing their possible defence in Indian courts for laundering Euro 10-15 million, Haschke elaborates on how he has destroyed all evidence linking him to the Indian VVIP deal.

"I cleaned every single piece of paper from my office. I completely cleaned the computer...Actually, you know what I did? I removed my old computer and now there is a new one where there is nothing. So even if they search for erased data, they will not find anything. Now I am deleting all emails which passed through Carlo's (Gerosa's) server in the office," Haschke says in a conversation with Gerosa.

For the Italian investigators, establishing the roles of Haschke and Gerosa in the deal wasn't too difficult given their India business and the fact that Gerosa is an old friend of Indian businessman Sanjeev Kumar 'Julie' Tyagi. The Indian businessman, a known consultant in the power sector, is well connected in the power circles of New Delhi and even the military establishment. Former Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, who was heading the Air Force when specifications were drawn up and tenders were floated for the VVIP helicopter deal in 2006, is a cousin of Julie Tyagi's. Investigations reveal that Julie Tyagi is one of the rings in this complex web of middlemen who allegedly influenced the deal.

... contd.

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