Chopper scam: Wasn't on talking terms with SP Tyagi, says cousin Sanjeev

In an exclusive interview to CNN IBN editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Sanjeev Tyagi, former Air Force chief SP Tyagi’s cousin, said that his family was being unnecessarily drawn into the controversy. “When the Agusta deal was signed, as the papers have mentioned, I was hardly on talking terms with SP Tyagi due to some internal issues with the family,” said Sanjeev Tyagi, refuting claims that he facilitated the deal in collusion with his cousin. [caption id=“attachment_628208” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sanjeev Tyagi. IBN Live.[/caption] “I have no links with AgustaWestland. I am not aware of any deal. I did not receive any payment. (Guido Ralph) Haschke is lying. Finmeccanica is trying to cover up its own bungling. The charges are baseless. It is very easy to tarnish someone’s reputation, but can the media pay it back?” he said. He went on to allege that the Italian organisations, in a bid to save their reputation after kickbacks in their own country were reported, are dragging the Tyagi’s into the controversy. Sanjeev who deals in the power sector, said that he had met Haschke, claimed to be a middleman who facilitated the deal, in 2001 over another business proposal in his own area of interest - power. He also said that Haschke never met SP Tyagi formally. “Since we (Haschke and Tyagi) were on talks of doing business, I invited him to my niece’s wedding where he must have met SP Tyagi,” he told Sardesai. According to IBN Live, Sanjeev also said that he had no dealing with lawyer Gautam Khaitan, a former director at Aeromatrix, and that it was former National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra who had changed the altitude norms of the helicopters.