india

Updated: May 05, 2016 23:48 IST

Lawyer Gautam Khaitan, an accused in the AgustaWestland case, reportedly admitted to the CBI on Thursday that he received payments from Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke, two middlemen key to the 2010 VVIP chopper deal.

Khaitan, however, rejected allegations that the payments were part of any bribes paid to him by the two European middlemen. “Khaitan agreed taking payments from European middlemen, Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, but the CBI does not agree with the reasons cited by him for accepting the payments based on evidence that it has,” an agency source said.

Separately, Air Force’s former chief, SP Tyagi, was questioned for several hours by the ED in its money-laundering probe. The questions he faced were over his post-retirement investments in four Noida-based firms during 2011-12.

“How did he manage to invest in such firms? His pension must not have been so big to give him that luxury,” said an ED investigator.

The CBI also questioned air vice marshal (retd) NV Tyagi regarding his alleged role in March 2005 deliberations that resulted in a key technical rule being relaxed to benefit Agusta.