Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

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member_26622
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by member_26622 »

^^^^ Since you control your time, please read up the Arjun thread or can I suggest 'google'.

Arjun is 'our' tank and we can source and put in whichever sight\electronics or whatever we want. French\German\Israel will be happy to supply it (Mk 1 uses Thales).

Summary - Arjun is not night blind which you will find out to be the case. Mk II has 'better' commander sights - panoramic.

Regarding other points - will Russia allow us to indigenize T-90 if we order 124 units ? Economics comes in to play so your questions are useless unless a large order or intent is placed first. These are not stealth technologies and have multiple sources. Some lessons in economics are warranted.

And Yes, my time is valuable and limited so I spend on things which I care about - my desh and my people.
member_22539
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by member_22539 »

^He has the time to go blah blah blah and we don't, so in his infantile mind it is his victory.
d_berwal
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by d_berwal »

nik wrote:^^^^ Since you control your time, please read up the Arjun thread or can I suggest 'google'.
i have been reading MBT thred on BR for a decade plus now..
Arjun is 'our' tank and we can source and put in whichever sight\electronics or whatever we want. French\German\Israel will be happy to supply it (Mk 1 uses Thales).
wrong again Mk 1 does not use thales ... (T-90 uses Thales)
Summary - Arjun is not night blind which you will find out to be the case.
who said its night blind
Regarding other points - will Russia allow us to indigenize T-90 if we order 124 units ? Economics comes in to play so your questions are useless unless a large order or intent is placed first. These are not stealth technologies and have multiple sources. Some lessons in economics are warranted.
questions are useless only if you cant understand them or does not have a answer

these same sources blocked these technologies for the same ARJUN just 12 or so years back..
And Yes, my time is valuable and limited so I spend on things which I care about - my desh and my people.
well its all to see which desh you are helping
member_26622
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by member_26622 »

@ d_berwal

You wrote night blindness for continuing with T-90 but come around and say that Arjun is not night blind. What am i missing here? This discussion is not going to lead anywhere given the overall hostility.

About which Desh - It's India (don't know of anyone other country called as 'Desh'). And yes I put my own money and spare time (not mere talk) for projects which have no financial return but go after big grass roots employment generation. And it's hard hard work to do this but want do my share - not engage in empty talk or wishes. If you want to know more, email me - but don't challenge my patriotism again.
d_berwal
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by d_berwal »

nik wrote:@ d_berwal

You wrote night blindness for continuing with T-90 but come around and say that Arjun is not night blind. What am i missing here? This discussion is not going to lead anywhere given the overall hostility.

the point missed is the other half of MBT fleet which is 30+ yrs old and need replacement but every one is after the fleet that is keeping enemy at the bay
About which Desh - It's India (don't know of anyone other country called as 'Desh'). And yes I put my own money and spare time (not mere talk) for projects which have no financial return but go after big grass roots employment generation. And it's hard hard work to do this but want do my share - not engage in empty talk or wishes. If you want to know more, email me - but don't challenge my patriotism again.


India is know as Bharat and Hindustan (Meaning of Desh is one's Native Land and its used for even native village/ district/ state etc)

i will not challenge you or any ones patriotism till the time they do not indulge in the propaganda against Armed forces and the people who serve us.
nelson
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by nelson »

Corruption in Assam Rifles. Mind numbing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IerSCc ... e=youtu.be
rkhanna
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by rkhanna »

Corruption in Assam Rifles. Mind numbing.
This sort of corruption is standard SOP for ANY Governmental org in India. The Armed Forces or Para Mils are in no way immune. Of the people by the people for the people :|
Nikhil T
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Nikhil T »

Sailor with Indian Navy says he is being held against his will for exposing scam, Navy denies
Asked about the necessity of taking Sahu into custody, Raju said: “The commanding officer was supposed to make a preliminary enquiry report. When he went to get details from Sahu, he used profane language against the commanding officer, so the Commanding officer decided that he required some sort of medical treatment.”

When asked why Commanding Officer Vijay Kumar Jha was questioning Sahu, when the complaint was made against Jha himself, Raju said: “That is procedure.”
Nikhil T
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Nikhil T »

CBI closes probe in Rs 575 crore Akash missile contract
NEW DELHI: Citing lack of evidence, CBI has closed its probe into alleged irregularities in the award of over Rs 575-crore contract in the production of Akash missile system components by top officials of Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) to a private power company.

The agency had started the probe in May last year into the allegations of violation of rules. It was alleged that senior officials of BDL awarded contract worth Rs 575.51 crore for producing self-propelled launcher (ASPL) for the missile system to be supplied to two regiments of the army.

CBI sources said the inquiry was started by the agency against the then Chief Managing Director Maj Gen (retd) Ravi Khetarpal, and other senior officials including the then Executive Director, Director, General Manager and others of BDL for allegedly committing irregularities in the contract.

The preliminary inquiry number PE 0352013A0004, which was handled by the Hyderabad unit of CBI, has been closed as it could not find evidence of any alleged corruption against the officers, they said.

The sources said the agency had recommended "suitable action" against the officials for alleged violation of rules but there was no evidence to proceed against them in the matter.

Repeated attempts to seek reaction from BDL and Tata Power did not succeed.

The Akash weapon system is an all-weather air-defence missile system which can target aircraft upto 30 kilometers away, at altitudes up to 18,000 metres.

The automatic system is designed to target and neutralise multiple aerial targets coming from several directions simultaneously is in operational service with the army and the air force.
Nikhil T
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Nikhil T »

MoD orders CBI probe into Mazagon's P15A sub-contract
The Ministry of Defence has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the composite outfitting works awarded by Mazagon Dock Ltd for two war ships in 2013 under the previous UPA regime.

In a communication to a member of parliament Prasanna Patasani, the defence ministry said the matter regarding the award of “Composite outfitting works for the second and third ships of Project 15A at Mazagon Docks were examined in consultation with Chief Vigilance Officer of the company. It was found by the CVO that the composite outfitting works were awarded at higher rates as compared to the rates in the on-going outfitting rate contracts at MDL,” the communication said.

The company gave orders worth Rs 35 crore to Rs 40 crore at an inflated rate of Rs 104 crore, as per a complaint made by Patasani to the defence ministry.

“This (inflated rates) was due to the erroneous estimation of the manday rates for labour and labour overheads and due to some discrepancies in the calculation of estimated rates by a committee. The members of this committee were below the board of director level officers and hence CVO of MDL has been asked to draw the report and seek advice from the CVC in the case for further action,” said the letter. The CBI, who have asked for the CVO's report, has started the probe and is questioning few MDL's officials, documents reviewed by this newspaper said.

When contacted, a Mazagon Dock spokesperson said on Thursday there was a reference from a Member of Parliament to the Raksha Mantri (defense minister), regarding composite outfitting contracts, tried out for the first time in MDL to enhance the pace of work. “The Member of Parliament had suggested that the matter be investigated by the CBI. Apparently, the Ministry of Defence has referred the same to the CBI,” the Mazagon Dock statement said.

The scope of work awarded by MDL consisted of insulation, installation of electrical and weapon items, and installation of hull outfit items apart from other work. The MP had complained that the estimates of all the works were increased by 3 to 4 times higher than the existing orders so as to favour outside contractors.

Government-owned shipyards received all the orders from the defence ministry for its war ships under the UPA regime. This resulted in huge backlog of orders and the shipyards are full for the next 10 years. Under the Make-In-India campaign and to reduce corruption, the Modi government is opening up the sector to private companies.The Ministry of Defence has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the composite outfitting works awarded by Mazagon Dock Ltd for two war ships in 2013 under the previous UPA regime.

In a communication to a member of parliament Prasanna Patasani, the defence ministry said the matter regarding the award of “Composite outfitting works for the second and third ships of Project 15A at Mazagon Docks were examined in consultation with Chief Vigilance Officer of the company. It was found by the CVO that the composite outfitting works were awarded at higher rates as compared to the rates in the on-going outfitting rate contracts at MDL,” the communication said.

The company gave orders worth Rs 35 crore to Rs 40 crore at an inflated rate of Rs 104 crore, as per a complaint made by Patasani to the defence ministry.

“This (inflated rates) was due to the erroneous estimation of the manday rates for labour and labour overheads and due to some discrepancies in the calculation of estimated rates by a committee. The members of this committee were below the board of director level officers and hence CVO of MDL has been asked to draw the report and seek advice from the CVC in the case for further action,” said the letter. The CBI, who have asked for the CVO's report, has started the probe and is questioning few MDL's officials, documents reviewed by this newspaper said.

When contacted, a Mazagon Dock spokesperson said on Thursday there was a reference from a Member of Parliament to the Raksha Mantri (defense minister), regarding composite outfitting contracts, tried out for the first time in MDL to enhance the pace of work. “The Member of Parliament had suggested that the matter be investigated by the CBI. Apparently, the Ministry of Defence has referred the same to the CBI,” the Mazagon Dock statement said.

The scope of work awarded by MDL consisted of insulation, installation of electrical and weapon items, and installation of hull outfit items apart from other work. The MP had complained that the estimates of all the works were increased by 3 to 4 times higher than the existing orders so as to favour outside contractors.

Government-owned shipyards received all the orders from the defence ministry for its war ships under the UPA regime. This resulted in huge backlog of orders and the shipyards are full for the next 10 years. Under the Make-In-India campaign and to reduce corruption, the Modi government is opening up the sector to private companies.
Lilo
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Lilo »

India's defence minister signals greater flexibility for procurement agents
2015-Nov-16

India's defence minister Manohar Parrikar has indicated that the new Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), which is expected to be published by New Delhi before the end of the year, will provide greater flexibility in the use of agents.

In an interview with the Press Trust of India (PTI) on 15 November, Parrikar said the DPP would enable vendors to use such officials in promoting products or to overcome procedural hurdles but only if payments to them are transparent and "reasonable" and do not facilitate "hanky-panky".

"There will be scope for a company to appoint an agent to represent it or to get over technical difficulties by paying him or her reasonable fees that will have to be mentioned upfront," said Parrikar.

"Sometimes you cannot open [an] office because the quantum of business does not justify an office. So how do you deal here? You can't send a person from a foreign country here all the time. So hence this is a provision but it does not allow any hanky-panky."

Parrikar added that a key element in introducing flexibility would be greater clarity in the DPP about procurement agents. "In short, the agent word [is] there [in the DPP] but without clearly defining what his role would be. It [is] not very well defined. That is being defined properly [in the new DPP]."

COMMENT

In pursuing Parrikar's strategy to legitimise the use of agents, it is possible that India's Ministry of Defence (MoD) will look to register such officials in order to monitor their activities, but this could lead to further obstacles. While registration would enable legal work practices, registered agents would also open themselves to potential fees and bureaucracy.

Notwithstanding this, Parrikar's intention to improve clarity related to agents is well founded.

It is IHS Jane's view that a major shortcoming of the DPP has been the ambiguity surrounding the use and definition of agents. Partly as a consequence, such officials continue to be part of India's unofficial defence procurement processes having been said to have influenced many deals in the past.

While the DPP states that agents are illegal, it provides no clear definition of such officials or potential illegal involvement, and this represents considerable opportunity for misunderstanding and potential allegations of middlemen usage.

In this context it is likely that some defence companies have been punished unfairly. In 2014 IHS Jane's spoke to one defence company located in Asia that claimed it employed an Indian agent in order to fully comprehend the details of the DPP as well as translate some sections of the policy. According to the company, this was interpreted by the MoD as employing a middleman and the company was duly penalised.
shiv
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by shiv »

A little birdie told me:
Arms lobby is very corrupt and sells useless equipment to us. Israelis and Russians are the worst. PM’s also make on the spur decisions without technical inputs. Consider the Sea Eagle. India bought, 200 of the missiles. The missiles were duds, would not work and went all over the place. Crores were spent. To cut a long story short - codes were inaccessible, company closed and issue buried.
ramana
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by ramana »

chetak wrote:
J Gopikrishnan@jgopikrishnan70

Italian court judgment on Chopper deal out. Names of Sonia, AP, Oscar ManmohanSingh in it. Details coming out soon :

https://t.co/5gsA490z0V

Retweets 1,327 Likes 523

6:18 PM - 24 Apr 2016
Karan M
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Karan M »

shiv wrote:A little birdie told me:
Arms lobby is very corrupt and sells useless equipment to us. Israelis and Russians are the worst. PM’s also make on the spur decisions without technical inputs. Consider the Sea Eagle. India bought, 200 of the missiles. The missiles were duds, would not work and went all over the place. Crores were spent. To cut a long story short - codes were inaccessible, company closed and issue buried.
Matches the stuff here.

See http://www.timesnow.tv/Indian-forces-ri ... 323554.cms
Kh-31, Popeye, R-77, Sea Eagle (claimed to be component obsolescence but looks it was much much more than that).

At least the Indian duds can be fixed eg HSLD mentioned was apparently fixed and deliveries to AF continue, variants on LGBs are being done.
The foreign duds remain stuck in some stockpile and rot.
vishvak
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by vishvak »

Its not a dud if it works! Just that once a desi equipment is fixed it mustn't be broken.
ramana
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by ramana »

KaranM, It may not be corruption but effect of local environments in India.

Explosive degrade exponentially with storage temperature overs shoot.
Add to that tropical areas have fungus issues.
Also I wonder how top of the line performing equipment develops glitches in India!!!

Popeye is the apple of the eye of the Israelis.
Karan M
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Karan M »

Could be, but then shows how limited our testing is for long term reliability.

Popeye standard wasn't sold for the Mirage but a variant.

IMHO, we tend to procure "leading edge" stuff which is not in service in the host country and the brochure bashing ends up taking the arms vendors at just face value.
Karan M
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Karan M »

BTW even Paveways were rotting in a dump before Kargil but when it happened, IAF machined the LGB guidance section to match the bombs and then they worked.
Karan M
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Karan M »

Chronic underfunding of local R&D is also an issue.

I remember many many years back, ASIEO (forerunner of DARE) cribbing about lack of facilities to test their systems on te ground, let alone air. Now we hear of how tough it is for us to fit our RWR which works on MiG-27 Upg or even more advanced variants, on Su-30 because Su-30 config blanks the reception and this can't be clearly simulated.

So either take basic fit from Russia which was far behind modern standards, but then cant fix local RWR on the aircraft because of lack of proper test facilities, apart from some mobile ranges.
chetak
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by chetak »

In the meanwhile, back at the ranch, ......................

the smell of cooking goose is all pervading. :lol:

Tandoori, anyone??

Is this the price that the italians are paying for the release of their marines??

Sonia, Manmohan’s role in Agusta deal exposed
Sonia, Manmohan’s role in Agusta deal exposed
Tuesday, 26 April 2016 | Pioneer News Service | New Delhi

In what could spell serious trouble for the Congress, an Italian court has in its judgment convicting AgustaWestland chopper company chief Giuseppe Orsi described how the firm paid bribes to top Congress leaders in India and lobbied with them to bag the Rs3,600-crore deal.

Citing the handwritten notes seized from middlemen, the judgment says the political leaders accepted commission of 15 to 16 million Euros (Around Rs 120 to 125 crore) in the controversial purchase of the 12 VVIP choppers. The judgment states how the firm lobbied with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her close aides besides then NSA MK Narayanan and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The judgment exposes the Congress’ role in pushing the deal and blames the erstwhile UPA Government for not cooperating with the Italian probe team. The other notes, part of the judgment, seized from the middlemen, say Sonia is the “driving force” behind this deal. Sonia’s name figures four times in the judgment.


The 225-page judgment of the appeal court in Milan also annexed several documents, including handwritten notes exchanged between the middlemen about the deal stating how the total commission of 30 million Euros (Rs 250 crore) was given to India’s political leaders, bureaucrats and Air Force officials.

BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav has given a Calling Attention notice to raise the issue in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday even as his Lok Sabha counterpart Meenakshi Lekhi on Monday raised the issue during the Zero Hour demanding a detailed probe. She said the Italian court judgment shows that the UPA Government has shown “substantial disregard” in arriving at the full truth behind the multi-crore scam.

Sonia’s name is mentioned in page 193 and 204 of the judgment, convicting Orsi and other officials of Finmeccania, the firm which manufactured AgustaWestland VVIP choppers. Orsi and other officials were convicted for four-and-half years.

A letter dated March 15, 2008, seized by investigators, shows main middleman Christian Michel, who is still a fugitive, having written to Peter Hulett, the then India sales head of the chopper company, that Sonia is the main driving force behind this deal and she will no longer fly in the existing MI- 8 choppers. The letter was quoted verbatim in the judgment, detailing lobbying and corruption of Congress leadership. It says, the then British High Commissioner in India should target top Congress leadership for the clinching the deal.


“Dear Peter, since Sonia Gandhi is the driving force behind VIP will no longer fly in the MI-8. Gandhi and her closest advisers are the people who the British ambassador should target,” said the letter of Michel seized by the probe team. This letter was seized from the home of arrested middlemen Guido Haschke in early 2013.

The judgment also says Haschke had in the court identified all the Congress leaders, when their photos were shown to him during the trial by the Italian prosecution.

Page 9 of the judgment also affixed the handwritten note of Michel exchanged with Haschke on how to distribute the total commission of 30 million Euros. Air Force officials were allotted six million Euros and bureaucracy, including Defence Ministry officials, was allotted 8.4 million Euros.

The note says political leaders closely connected to Sonia Gandhi were to be allotted 15 to 16 million Euros The note also shows sharing of commission with ‘family’ and the judgment says it was meant for the family of then Air Force chief SP Tyagi.

Page No 163 and 164 name Manmohan Singh and details that Orsi used Italian leadership and diplomats to contact the then Prime Minister to scuttle the probe by non-cooperation from the Indian Government’s side. In Page 163, the judgment produces a handwritten note by Orsi from jail in July 2013 asking his people to contact then Italian Prime Minister Monti or Ambassador Teracciano to call Manmohan Singh.

“Call Monti or amb. Teracciano in my name to ask him to call the PM Singh,” said the note seized from the prison cell of Orsi. The judgment in several areas blames the non-cooperation from Indian authorities including the Defence Ministry and other probe agencies in 2013, when the Congress-led UPA was in power
ramana
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by ramana »

We should ask SwamyG to mentor drawing up a network diagram of all the characters in the Augusta scam both external and internal.
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Re: Indian Military Aviation - 21 Sept 2015

Post by Karan M »

As IAF chief, S P Tyagi met Agusta executives with his cousins: Italian Court
They shared this information with middleman Guido Haschke, the court says, who communicated it to AW officials, particularly Guiseppe Orsi, the former CEO of parent company Finmeccanica.

[bb]CONTRARY to his claim that his cousins acted alone in the AgustaWestland (AW) deal without his knowledge, the verdict of the Milan Appellate Court says that former IAF chief S P Tyagi met several AW officials in the presence of his cousins when he was the chief. And that even before he became chief, Tyagi was aware of the change in specifications of the helicopter — lowering of height ceiling — and he is said to have passed on that knowledge through his cousins and via middlemen to AW officials.[/b]

In fact, the court order also says that the Tyagi brothers, Sanjeev Kumar (Juli), Docsa and Sandeep, cousins of S P Tyagi, knew as early as November 2003 — before S P Tyagi became chief on December 31, 2004 — that the Defence Ministry would lower the altitude requirements for the helicopters it was planning to purchase for VVIPs.


They shared this information with middleman Guido Haschke, the court says, who communicated it to AW officials, particularly Guiseppe Orsi, the former CEO of parent company Finmeccanica.

“I got the preliminary information from the Tyagi family that the flying ceiling for the helicopter would be lowered; that in the tender offer, the altitude ceiling would be reduced,” Haschke is quoted as saying on Page 209 of the Milan Appellate Court’s April 7 judgment.

The court held Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, former AW CEO, guilty of fraud and international corruption, sentencing them to four and a half and four years of prison respectively along with heavy fines.

It emerges, from court records, that S P Tyagi met with AW executives in Delhi between January 22-25, 2006, while he was still Air Chief. Again, in January 2007, he met Bruno Spagnolini, Haschke and his associate middleman Carlo Gerosa, both times in the company of his cousins. Tyagi was IAF chief until March 31, 2007.

At the end of 2004, before Tyagi assumed office, Juli Tyagi, according to the court order, made a “proposal” to Haschke. Of information and help against a fee. The sum agreed, as per the order, was 10.5 million Euros. Of which, Haschke claims, 3 million Euros was paid. The Tyagi brothers received 100,000 Euros in cash “immediately”.

Consider the following exchange as mentioned in the verdict (translated by this reporter):

Public Prosecutor to Haschke: “From whom did you learn that the “quota operativa” (Operation Rules) had been lowered?”

Haschke: “I got this first information from the Tyagi family who informed me that the altitude ceiling would be lowered and that in the tender document it would be lowered.”

Prosecutor: “And did you transmit this information to someone in Finmeccanica/Agustawestland?

Haschke: “Of course, certainly. I first transmitted it to Zappa (Giorgio Zappa the former Director General of Finmeccanica) and later, when I had been introduced to AgustaWestland. I don’t remember if I discussed this with Signor Orsi but I certainly did with engineer Lunardi.”


On page 210 of the verdict, the Prosecutor asks Haschke: “When did you first manage to meet Orsi?”

Haschke: “I do not remember exactly but it could have been around 20 October (2003).”

Prosecutor: “And when you met him what was the status of the tender offering?”

Haschke: “When I met him the tender offering (with the lowered altitude ceiling) had not been made public. I remember that well.”

The possibility of lowering the flying ceiling of the helicopters, since a single vendor situation had arisen, was raised at a meeting at the PMO on November 19, 2003. Besides the PMO, representatives of the Air HQ and the Special Protection Group (SPG) also attended the meeting.


On page 45 of its judgment, the court observes: “The failure of the first ‘Request for proposal’ (which resulted in a single vendor situation) gave rise to long discussions within the government organs concerned and on the eventual necessity of modifying the flight specifications (velivoli) and therefore the tender notice. The factual chronology reveals that the formulation of a new tender was developed and perfected in the period when Air Chief Marshal Tyagi was the head of the Indian Air Force”.

On page 55, the court states: Haschke recounts that towards the end of 2004, one of the Tyagi brothers, Juli, proposed himself and his family as intermediaries for the contract for helicopters that the Ministry of Defence is planning to float.

On page 57, Haschke tells the court that Juli Tyagi asked him and his associate Carlo Gerosa if they had contacts in the helicopter industry — EADS for the Eurocopter. “I told him that we did not know people in EADS but that we had a contact in Finmeccanica through Engineer Zampini who was the chief of one of the group’s companies Ansaldo Energia. Obviously, his interest was to represent one of these manufacturers in India and therefore to obtain payment as a consultant.”

Consider the following exchange as per the court order. (Page 57)

Prosecutor: “At what moment did they (Juli and Gerosa) tell you that their cousin was on the point of becoming or had become the head of the Indian Air Force?”

Haschke: “Towards the end of 2004 maybe.”


Prosecutor: “At what point did the Tyagi brothers underline that their cousin had become the chief in the sense that you could count on him?”

Haschke: “They told me. Not explicitly but they gave me to understand that as a member of the family, he would”.

The judge later remarks that “the family especially with the ‘cousin’ was available to those who wished to bid for the tender to act as facilitators in the awarding of the contract.”

Despite repeated calls and text messages, S P Tyagi was not available for comment.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... GVBoE.dpuf
shiv
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Re: Indian Military Aviation - 21 Sept 2015

Post by shiv »

IMO - they key may lie in the particular people who agreed to reduce the ceiling from 6000 m to 4500 m. Apparently NSG and others were also involved in the decision but clearly someone has "sold" the logic that VVIPs rarely go above 4500 meters. Apparently this logic is specious and false.

If 4500 m is the ceiling then the helo can only safely operate (with power to spare) at altitudes well below 4500 m. That aside the increasing risk of manpads requires that VIP helos should have performance that keeps them high and well away from risk even when they are overflying high mountain territory.

Clearly a crime has been committed under the UPS government headed by Sonia Gandhi. They will try to pin the entire blame on Tyagi - who may be guilty, but may not shoulder 100% of teh blame
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Re: Indian Military Aviation - 21 Sept 2015

Post by rohitvats »

^^^Shiv - apart from the ceiling factor, another important criteria was the helicopter cabin dimensions. SPG insisted on certain height to allow for ingress/egress of men and equipment. This was the clincher in favor of AW101.

And specification changes happened before Tyagi became Chief and contract got concluded after his retirement.

Some sections of media, especially NDTV, are focusing on SP Tyagi to deflect the blame from Mafia Queen.
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Re: Indian Military Aviation - 21 Sept 2015

Post by Austin »

Yes I realised that Tyagi and now ex AVM are being made scape goat in AW101 deal with help from certain media
DexterM
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Re: Indian Military Aviation - 21 Sept 2015

Post by DexterM »

Does that mean Tyagi is innocent? And his cousins are not really arms dealers?
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Re: Indian Military Aviation - 21 Sept 2015

Post by Austin »

DexterM wrote:Does that mean Tyagi is innocent? And his cousins are not really arms dealers?
He may or may not be innocent that is for the court to decide but most certainly major part of the bribe has gone to SG/Cong & Company but from the media trial it appears Tyagi will be made the scape goat and as usual the politician will be bailed out , This is Indian Style QE :wink:
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Re: Indian Military Aviation - 21 Sept 2015

Post by Philip »

When the Augsta scandal first broke,I pointed out the open details which should've cast suspicion even before the Italians found that bribes were paid. Firstly,the helo.It is by far the best helo in its class,been battle proven in Afghanistan.The naval version,the Merlin is a splendid machine,therefore as regards the technical capabilities of the bird,like the Bofors gun,one cannot fault the IAF for choosing it.

The same helo was chosen after a stiff contest for the US pres' "Marine 1" requirement beating off US contenders,principally the S-92.If I remember correctly,the USMC wanted 6 birds. This sparked off outrage in the US def industry as they wanted the US pres to fly only in a US bird. The deal was cancelled supposedly being too expensive! However,what was so glaring in the Indian deal was that we wanted 12 birds,twice as many as the US pres! Why? Well,apart from the Pres,PM,DM,HM,etc .,there's also an ahem..."first family",SG,RG,PG and RV! Since madam SG did not want to fly anymore in an MI-8 from the latest disclosures (Incidentally,VVIP versions of the MI-8/17 were displayed at a prev Aero-India show and were quite stunning,and this is the world's most reliable med sized helo also used by NATO in AF-Pak) , ironic as our VVIPs will now fly in MI-17s. We under the UPA not satisfied with the MI-8s wanted the same-the very best as Uncle Sam.

Perhaps the failure of clinching the US deal made AW look around for another willing buyer and who jumped at the chance,India! This factor,the US deal that fell through and lower costs of the US bird has not been highlighted enough all by our media.
The Russian Kamov was disqualified on technical grounds, leaving Sikorsky S 92 Super Hawk and AW 101 in the fray. The latter won on both technical and financial merit, and an agreement was signed in February 2010 for Euro 560 million ($827 million) for 12 helicopters inclusive of training.

Incidentally, the same AW 101, with three engines, was also selected by the US Government for the President in a competitive bid, though President Obama shelved the proposal citing fund shortage. There was also political opposition to the idea of buying a foreign-made helicopter, and the US President continues to use the older, reliable Sikorsky helicopters maintained by US Marines.
.Now this makes each AW-101 come in at around $70M each! Astonishing as other orders show.One for Denmark for 14 helos cost just GBP 250M,around $400M,around half the price for 2 extra.


So India,bought twice as many VVIP helos as the US pres wanted at a far higher price. This obvious act of excessiveness should've been red flagged immediately.But nothing happened,again why? Our beloved PM at the time was none other than Snake-Oil Singh,responsible for the litany of scams during the UPA rule,including many which can be traced back right to his office.remember Coalgate?
The sordid role of the former COAS must also cast its shadow upon the IAF especially now when another ultra-expensive deal is being negotiated ,the air chief having "no Plan B" reg the MMRCA acquisition.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Austin »

In the eye of the storm

How ex-IAF chief SP Tyagi landed in the middle of the AgustaWestland bribery case.

On May 2, Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi (retired) became one of the first former service chiefs to be summoned in a graft investigation. CBI officials say Tyagi made several crucial revelations to them on the AgustaWestland bribery case, among them the fact that he met middlemen Haschke and Gerosa several times between 2004 and 2007 when he was vice-chief of the air force and, later, air chief. The CBI believes Tyagi was the man who changed the specifications of the machines in the helicopter contract, the most important of which was lowering the maximum height from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres.

This important change, the CBI says, allowed the entry of the AW-101 into the bidding. Tyagi, who was air chief between December 31, 2004, and March 31, 2007, says a collegium took this decision. The meeting which froze the helicopter specifications was held first on March 1, 2005. Convened by then NSA, M.K. Narayanan, it was attended by then SPG chief B.V. Wanchoo, defence secretary Ajai Vikram Singh, cabinet secretary B.K. Chaturvedi, air chief Tyagi and deputy chief of air staff, Marshal J.S. Gujral.

A second meeting on May 30 that year was attended by Air Marshal Gujral where the operational requirements of the ceiling were finalised.

The CBI alleges Haschke and Gerosa paid the Tyagi brothers Sandeep, Sanjeev and Rajeev, 400,000 euros to facilitate this decision. Of this, 100,000 euros was paid in cash. "There is really no connection, because it was paid in cash," one of the middlemen Haschke gloated in a conversation wiretapped by Italian police.

Charges of corruption against the Tyagi family were first made in 2013 by Italian prosecutors who investigated the case. The 225-page judgement of the Milan appellate court is peppered with references to 'Marshal Tyagi', the air chief and to the 'Family Tyagi', his three cousins, and to 'the team'-code for middlemen Haschke, Gerosa and Michel.

The modus operandi, according to the Italian investigators, was to show these as payments for engineering services rendered by Chandigarh-based firm Aeromatrix Info Solutions, owned by Praveen Bakshi. The money was routed through front companies in various countries-Tunisia, Mauritius and finally Chandigarh.

In his interview to an Indian news channel, Judge Marco Maiga, who passed the April 7 conviction order in Milan, explains how the Tyagis became involved in the scam. The story, he says, began when Sanjeev 'Julie' Tyagi contacted Haschke, an arms agentin India, around 2004, and asked him if he had any contacts with helicopter manufacturers. Haschke introduced him to AgustaWestland executives, kickstarting what would become the infamous case.

CBI officials say they are reluctant to arrest the former air chief just yet. They want to proceed cautiously on the investigation by slowly building up the case and gathering evidence against the family. If they are right, another dubious milestone for the armed services will soon be crossed.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Austin »

Fin Min chose to reject the purchase of six mid air refuellers was that it was too expensive, close to $2 billion.

FinMin Fast-Tracked Agusta Purchase
Not only were bribes paid in the Agusta Westland chopper scam but operational requirements of the Air Force were ignored in favour of choppers to ferry VVIPs. Defence Ministry officials have admitted to Outlook that despite at least three requests from the Air Force for the purchase of mid air refuellers, the Finance Ministry turned it down in 2010. VVIP choppers were a necessity due to the changed security scenario in the country especially as the SPG was pushing for it, the ministry had said while justifying the nod.

The irony is that the grounds that Fin Min chose to reject the purchase of six mid air refuellers was that it was too expensive, close to $2 billion. A CAG report says that the Agusta Westland 101 choppers, in the eye of a storm now, were bought at six times the cost. The IAF’s refueller squadron was dependent on the outdated IL78 which were on their last legs -- service and spares was hard to come by.

New refuellers were pitched as an operational requirement that would extend flying hours and increase the number of missions that its fighter aircraft could undertake. In the protracted contract negotiations prior to the matter reaching the Fin MIn, Airbus 330 Multi Role Transport Tankers were chosen for their ability to fly fuel, cargo and soldiers together. The nod for the MRTT was given by both Air chiefs, PV Naik and Fali Major.

Pranab Mukherjee was Defence Minister and later Finance Minister when the proposal for refuellers was rejected.

Former Defence Minister A K Antony admitted to Outlook that the Finance Ministry had not supported the MoD’s proposal that was an operational necessity. “We could not convince the Finance Ministry. What could we do? In fact the finance ministry told us categorically that if such a proposal came to the Cabinet Committee on Security, they would not support it. Without the nod, we couldn’t go ahead,” he said.

Antony admitted that because of a threat perception to VVIPs, the SPG had suggested a dedicated fleet of choppers which the finance ministry and the CCS agreed to.

Retired Air Marshal BK Pandey says, “What happened is nothing short of treachery. The refuellers were an immediate requirement and VVIP choppers were not. In fact it should never have been handled by the Air Force. And despite the Finance Ministry turning down the proposal, the same company again made the cut and Airbus was cleared in 2012,” he says. Contract negotiations have been going on since and a frustrated Airbus has now asked the government to decide the deal one way or other.

In the slugfest in Parliament over the chopper deal, it was left to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to read out from a CAG report of 2013 that pointed out that the price arrived at by the Ministry of Defence for buying the choppers was six times the amount.

So while the Contract Negotiation Committee benchmarked the price at $27 million, on the internet prices were seen to be around $18 million. The CAG report in fact exposes in graphic detail the manner in which the government of the day arrived at the price at which the choppers should be bought. It relied on a website, to do so!

But what is shocking is revelations made in Parliament about the three AW 101 choppers that arrived in late 2012. The machines now mothballed and packed away at a hanger at the Palam technical Area in Delhi since January 2014 were put to test in Srinagar in 2013.

Parrikar said in the Rajya Sabha, “At Srinagar, 5,400 feet above sea level, effective payload of this helicopter is nil in OGL configuration at all ranges of temperature. Even in IGE configuration, a reduced payload is to be accepted.” Essentially, when the chopper took off, it did not have enough power to carry a single passenger. Parrikar added, ”The common VVIP sorties to Nehru Helipad cannot be undertaken.”


Similarly in the case of Gulmarg, Pahalgam where VVIP sorties have been flown in the past using Mi-17iv helicopters." And these were choppers designed to fly up to 4500 metres and up to the Siachen Base camp. “Essentially, these machines were useless,” says retired air marshal Pandey. If that wasn’t enough, the records about the choppers were destroyed in a fire that took place in that office June 3, 2014. “But this file remained in the drawer of the officer. So, it survived,” said Parrikar.

The UPA’s justification that the Agusta choppers were at still being developed thus justifying field evaluation trials in the US and UK is also not justified. The CAG says: ”The truth is that it existed as a certified platform with over 1,15000 fleet hours at the time of field trials.” If the UPA wished, the trials could have been conducted in India.

As the dirt keeps coming out in the Agusta case, the Congress walked out of the Rajya Sabha demanding a Supreme Court monitored probe. Because it is afraid, that it’s a very public probe that the NDA will conduct using its caged parrots like the CBI and the ED.
Last edited by ramana on 10 May 2016 05:25, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added bold ramana
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by UlanBatori »

Lifafa DDM
AgustaWestland to Rafale: Journalists under ED scanner

By: Vicky Nanjappa

Published: Monday, May 9, 2016, 9:17 [IST]

New Delhi, May 9: The pay offs in the AgustaWestland deal amounts to Rs 360 crore according to the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Out of the Rs 360 crore that was earmarked to bribe influential people, an amount of Rs 50 crore was set aside for the media alone. While the Enforcement Directorate has learnt that an amount of Rs 28 lakh had been spent on a journalist and his wife,{Any hints?} the ED is also looking into another transaction of Rs 5 crore that was paid off to one journalist in connection with the Rafale deal. Also read: VVIP chopper deal: Michel's driver spills beans on India contacts, funds links

The ED is ascertaining whether this amount of Rs 5 crore was paid off to a journalist in cash or in the form of freebies. Journalists in the dock The ED is hot on the trail of the Rs 50 crore that was spent by James Christian Michel the middleman in charge of handling the media. Documents which have been accessed by the Enforcement Directorate suggest that a large chunk of the Rs 50 crore was spent on a media junket to Italy.

The ED says that not all those who went on the junket were part of this scam. However there are a few names we have with us who we suspect had ensured that the narrative in the news was in favour of AgustaWestland.

There is a journalist for whom Michel had earmarked Rs 28 lakh. This looked like a suspicious transaction since the money was spent on the wife of the journalist as well.

Another journalist has come under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate and this time it is in connection with the Rafale deal. The ED suspects that middlemen had paid off this journalist a sum of Rs 5 crore. ... Subramanian Swamy too had said that a journalist who was paid off Rs 5 crore in connection with the Rafale deal is under the lens of the Enforcement Directorate.

Read more at: http://www.oneindia.com/new-delhi/agust ... 93396.html

Gee! For the quality of 'journalism' that came out, that was a gross waste of baksheesh. :roll:
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Karan M »

Looks like the Turd and Grouse.
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by ldev »

At a point in time I was working on a contract job in a certain country (not India) in Organization (A). Although relatively junior, my work involved being a direct report to the CEO on a small functional area. My CEO was a close friend of another CEO, boss of Organization B that was going to be buying aircraft in the near future. One day, as part of my responsibilities I hosted a visitor from a certain country who worked for Organization C. As a courtesy, after the office meeting I took him out for lunch. Over lunch, he probed as to whether the information he had of my CEO (A) being friendly with CEO B were correct. I confirmed that. Then he asked me to pass on a message to CEO B via my CEO A, whose organization was in the process of shortly buying a number of aircraft, whose value then was over a billion dollars. He said that just as my organization dealt with the aircraft buying organization, similarly his organization (C) dealt with an aircraft selling company (D). And Company D had asked him to pass on a message to CEO B, through him and me and my CEO A, that they were prepared to offer a 10% commission to secure the aircraft deal. He added,” 10% is something that we can manage quite easily. But these guys get greedy and want 20% and 30%. That can be difficult to manage”. This is the reality of the arms/civil aircraft business. How many people in India e.g. will say no if such an offer is made to them? Needless to say, I kept my mouth shut and did not pass on any message. I was on a contract job and did not want the sh*t to hit the fan with me being made a scapegoat.

We are all motivated by either greed or fear. In arms transactions, unless the stick is stronger than the carrot, people will be tempted by bribes. In India, I do not think anybody is afraid of anything. They all want to loot while they can. Agay ka dekha jayega!!
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by ldev »

By the way Indian newspapers report that the AugustWestland payoff is 10% of the deal amount of 3600 crores i.e. 360 crores, that is the amount ED is investigating. But "private" reports from Europe say that the payoff was actually 25% of the total amount of 3600 Cr i.e. total payoff 900 crores. So is the ED blind or is the ED investigation itself a scam. Scam being investigated by another scam!!
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by shiv »

http://idrw.org/meteoric-rise-accidenta ... more-96445
On April 27, 2015, when income tax officials descended on his residence in Greater Kailash, Sanjay Bhandari, the man at the centre of the controversy for allegedly holding Benami properties for Robert Vadra, damaged his SIM card to keep his “contacts” under wraps. Indeed it was his “contacts” that the government agencies were after.In 2014, after the BJP came to power, a top secret report of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) listed Bhandari as a close aide of Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and mentioned that he was friends with the son of a former senior BJP leader. In fact, Bhadari’s contact list was so impressive that after the I-T raids, he could send word to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through two influential people to explore possibility of immunity in exchange of information.

However, his request received a cold response and he went into a shell, deserted by his powerful friends, including cabinet ministers, senior intelligence officials, industrialists, senior judicial functionaries and power brokers. Before entering the defence industry, Bhandari looked after his father’s homeopathic clinics in Connaught Place. He studied at Modern School and inherited a number of ambitious friends and tasted success early in life. In his 40s, he had money, well-connected friends and a dream. He first dabbled in the oil and natural gas industry in 2002-07, when there was a lot of interest in the sector. Things, however, changed in 2008. Bhandari was introduced to Delhi’s elite power circle by a property dealer in Defence Colony, and he made his debut in defence. He roped in his friend, Bimal Sareen, a known figure in the industry. In January 2010, he booked a stall at the defence expo in Pragati Maidan, but failed to attract interest. Though he had little to offer, Swiss firm Pilatus decided to engage Bhandari’s Offset India Solutions (OIS) and in 2012 Pilatus won a Rs 4,000 crore basic trainer for an aircraft contract. Though OIS was not officially with Pilatus, there are no secrets in the murky world of defence. The corridors of South Block began to echo his name.

That year, Bhandari got a bigger spot, possibly the best, at the expo and caught everyone’s attention, including that of defence correspondents who are always on the lookout for new players in the sector. Ever since Bhandari first left his mark at the expo, he was widely rumoured to have the blessings of Vadra. It was also at this time that he began to make enemies. He bid aggressively for defence contracts, and also took a leaf out of corrupt contractors’ books and started filing complaints against his competitors in a bid to scuttle their chances. This, of course, annoyed both armed forces officials, who were desperate for quick procurement, and other defence contractors. Nonetheless, he became known as the go-to guy in defence.

A Hindustan Times report published earlier this month established that even before the trials for Basic Trainer Aircrafts (BTA) in September-October 2010, Bhandari received one million Swiss francs from Pilatus. It was also revealed that OIS was not listed as an offshore provider of the firm in documents filed with the Indian Air Force. The report revealed unexplained payments to tune of Rs 69 crore his companies received. It was only by chance that the I-T department landed on this case, which has now snowballed into a political controversy of mammoth proportions. The Rs 69 crore Bhandari’s seven companies received came from a known Hawala operator, Deepak Aggarwal, who being scrutinised in a separate case involving funding to the Aam Aadmi Party. This led them to Bhandari, whose phones were tapped. Bhandari was led to believe it was routine scrutiny. The I-T survey report, a secret document, and sensitive defence ministry documents related to acquisitions were later recovered in his possession during raids.

By virtue of being a security service provider, Bhandari knew the nuances of keeping secrets — he routinely erased his hard drives, snooped on his staff and installed high-level security applications. Despite such extraordinary precautions, an email trail connecting him to Vadra was revealed. The IB despatched a report alerting the PMO about the significance of the development and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was ordered to swing into action. For any effective action, the ED would need a cognisable offence and it is waiting for the I-T department to register a case under the newly enacted Black Money Act.

..http://idrw.org . Read more at India No 1 Defence News Website , Kindly don http://idrw.org/meteoric-rise-accidenta ... more-96445 .
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by wig »

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 162504.cms


MiG and other firms paid millions to CBI, ED suspect Sudhir Choudhurie’s son, cousin
a confidential report commissioned by Credit Suisse that shows the Choudhurie “family group” – as the report described it – had 18 accounts in the bank. The accounts are, jointly or individually, in the names of Choudhurie’s son, Bhanu Choudhurie, and his cousin, Aman Chopra. Companies associated with the son and a close relative of Sudhir Choudhrie, an Indian origin British citizen currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) and whose name figures in CBI’s list of “undesirable” middlemen, received over a hundred million dollars from Russian arms companies in 2007-08.

ET accessed a confidential report commissioned by Credit Suisse that shows the Choudhrie "family group" – as the report described it – had 18 accounts in the bank. The accounts are, jointly or individually, in the names of Choudhrie's son, Bhanu Choudhrie, and his cousin, Aman Chopra.

Russian companies that made the payments include MiG Corp, Rosoboronexport and NPO which have significant business interests in India.
The Credit Suisse report does not link payments to any specific defence deal in India. But it notes the payments are “incoming funds from clients' offset business”. In the AugustaWestland corruption case, part of the payment to middlemen were described as offset payments, according to the judgment of an Italian court.

Offsets are defined as compulsory spending foreign defence firms selling equipment to India have to undertake for sourcing local material.

Rosoboronexport is a Russian government entity in charge of military exports. All Russian military deals with India are routed through this entity. MiG Corporation makes MiG fighter jets, which are part of Indian Air Force’s fleet. In January 2010, India decided to purchase 29 MiG 29K fighters for close to $1.2 billion. NPO is a leading space and rocketry company in Russia. The Indian-Russian BrahMos joint venture was established with NPO.

ET's detailed questionnaire sent to Rosoboronexport and the London-based Choudhrie family didn't elicit any response. In response to ET's questions, a Credit Suisse spokesperson replied: "As a matter of principle, Credit Suisse does not comment upon its actual, potential or rumoured client relationships. Credit Suisse complies with applicable rules and regulations related to Anti Money Laundering".
BBC's Panorama programme obtained the Credit Suisse confidential report. Commissioned in 2008 as part of risk assessment exercise, the report notes payments were made in 2007-08 to 18 Choudhrie family group accounts through companies and bank accounts located in Seychelles, Zurich and PanamaBSE 5.26 %.

"In total there are 18 account relationships (17 in Zurich, 1 in Singapore) that were established for the Choudhrie family and relatives…. The accounts relate to the Choudhrie family group," the report, dated October 2, 2008 reads.

The report also notes Choudhrie family business operations have presence in tax havens such as British Virgin Islands, Panama and Seychelles.
Three companies – Carter Consultants Inc, Belinea Services Ltd and Cottage Consultants Ltd – also figure in the so called Panama papers. Panama papers refer to a set of documents from a Panamanian law firm on financial transactions involving companies of many individuals and entities from different countries, including India. Tax avoidance has been alleged as one of the motives behind these transactions. Panama papers show Bhanu Choudhrie (Sudhir Choudhrie’s son) and Aman Chopra (a cousin) as directors or shareholders of the companies.

According to the Credit Suisse report, these companies received over $126 m from Russian arms companies in 2007-2008. The biggest share went to Belinea Services Ltd, Seychelles. It received over $60 million from Russian companies.

ON COTTAGE, BELINEA
On Cottage Consultants Ltd, the report says, "The background information to this account is the same as for the private account of Bhanu Choudhrie and refers to the family as being very wealthy with an overall fortune of approximate $2 billion. The family started in the catering business four generations ago and built up a number of additional businesses in real estate, aviation, property and construction companies, IT support companies etc".


The report mentions that Cottage Consultants has received "EUR 28.1 mn from State Corporation Rosonboronexport, EUR 4.7 million from PJSC RAC * MIG * and EUR 9.7 mn from ABC," since October 2007. The report links this money to the offsets business.

"PJSC RAC MIG is the leading Russian industrial corporation for design, production, sale, logisitics, support of aeronautical engineering. The flow of funds for these transfers was incoming funds from clients offset business," says the report.

On Belinea, the report says” “Since Oct 1st 2007 there have been inflows of EUR 60.88 mn and outflows of EUR 23.6 mn. The in and out flows mirror that of Cottage Consultants limited in that EUR 37.2 mn were received from State Corporation Rosoboronexport, EUR 18.85 mn from ABC $2 mn from JSC MIC NPO".
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by wig »

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37823554

Rolls-Royce 'made secret payments' for Hawk sales to India through one, sudhir choudrie
n investigation by the BBC and The Guardian has found new evidence that suggests Rolls-Royce was involved in corruption.
Panorama understands that the company made secret payments of around £10m to an unregistered Indian agent.
And the programme has found evidence of a suspicious payment of cash that may have helped Rolls-Royce win a major contract for engines on Hawk aircraft.
Rolls-Royce says it has zero tolerance of bribery and corruption.
It is illegal to pay secret middlemen to win defence contracts in India, but Panorama's investigation suggests Rolls-Royce paid the money to companies linked to arms dealer Sudhir Choudhrie.
Mr Choudhrie is also on an Indian government blacklist of people suspected of "corrupt or irregular practice"'.
The Undesirable Contact Men list warns Indian civil servants and government ministers to take extra care when dealing with such "unscrupulous persons".
Mr Choudhrie's lawyers told the BBC he "has never paid bribes to government officials or acted as an illegal middleman in defence deals". They said he has "no knowledge of the contents" of the list.
Mr Choudhrie - who is a billionaire and lives in London - has been pictured collecting a business award from Prime Minister Theresa May. He is an adviser on India to the Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and his family has donated more than £1.6m to the party.
The joint investigation has also found evidence of a suspicious payment that was made in cash.
It involves Mr Choudhrie's son, Bhanu, who accompanied an arms executive called Peter Ginger on a trip to Switzerland in 2007.
During the trip, Mr Ginger made a cash payment amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds into a secret bank account.
The account was opened in the name of "Portsmouth" and bank documents seen by Panorama later showed a balance of more than 1m Swiss francs.
Mr Ginger was a key negotiator on the sale of Hawk aircraft to the Indian government. All of the planes had Rolls-Royce engines and the deal was worth around £400m to the company.
Bhanu Choudhrie's lawyers told the BBC he has never been paid to secure deals for Rolls-Royce in India, including the sale of Hawk jets.
India bought 123 Hawk jets with Rolls-Royce engines
"Mr Choudhrie has never paid any bribe to Mr Ginger or anyone else," his lawyers said. "Mr Choudhrie has no knowledge of what bank accounts have been set up or operated by Mr Ginger or what sums (if any) he has deposited in them in cash."
Mr Ginger told the BBC he has never acted for Rolls-Royce or had any financial dealings with them. He says he has "never taken nor paid any bribes".
In 2014, both Sudhir and Bhanu Choudhrie were arrested as part of the Serious Fraud Office investigation into Rolls-Royce. Both were released without charge.
Rolls-Royce says it is "fully co-operating with the authorities" and "cannot comment on ongoing investigations".
Rolls-Royce, which employs 23,000 people in the UK, makes engines for commercial and military aircraft, along with power systems used by ships, oil rigs and trains, but no longer makes cars. That part of the business was sold to BMW nearly 20 years ago.
Panorama has also been told by a Brazilian prosecutor that Rolls-Royce is co-operating with an investigation looking at bribery allegations in Brazil.
It is alleged Rolls-Royce paid bribes to win a $100m contract to supply power systems to the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras.



Billionaire Sudhir Choudhrie has been welcomed by the British establishment.
His family's Stellar International Art Foundation owns more than 600 rare works of art by artists including Picasso, Renoir and Andy Warhol.
He has been photographed receiving a business award from Theresa May and his family has given more than £1.6m to the Liberal Democrats. The 67-year-old is now an adviser to Lib Dem party leader Tim Farron.
Mr Choudhrie and his family run a global business empire that includes hotels, healthcare and aviation.

Pedro Barusco was one of the Petrobras executives who allegedly received illegal payments. In official documents seen by the BBC, he told prosecutors the Rolls-Royce payments were split up and that he received at least $200,000.
Rolls-Royce says it has completed a thorough review of its anti-corruption policies, including the use of advisers and intermediaries.
The company said: "We have made it clear that Rolls-Royce will not tolerate business misconduct or inappropriate behaviour of any kind and in recent years we have intensified our focus on ethics and compliance, which are foundations of our culture.'
The BBC understands there are more than 30 investigators working on a UK Serious Fraud Office investigation. Rolls-Royce could face large fines and employees - past or present - could face jail sentences if found guilty of any wrongdoing.
There is a separate investigation into the company in the US
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Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Philip »

Vultures circling the Hawks what?!

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... estigation
The intriguing Choudhrie family at the heart of Rolls-Royce investigation
Concerns raised over business relationships and finances of Sudhir Choudhrie and his son Bhanu, from one of India’s most high-profile families
Sudhir Choudhrie with former Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes in 2014. The Choudhries have been major donors to the Lib Dems. Photograph: Alpha Press
Holly Watt, Rob Evans and David Pegg
Monday 31 October 2016

When Sir John Rose stepped down as chief executive of Rolls-Royce in March 2011, the company had been transformed.
The so-called “Lion of Rolls-Royce” had been in charge for 15 years and overseen the expansion of one of Britain’s best-known blue-chip companies into an engineering giant on the world stage.

The firm that had made engines for Spitfires during the second world war had become a £13bn leviathan. Yet, cracks in its carefully crafted corporate image were about to emerge.

Exactly how it started is still unclear, but by December 2012, Rolls-Royce had put itself on red alert. It acknowledged, somewhat opaquely, that it had a problem – and the Serious Fraud Office said it was investigating.

At first, the SFO focused on the company’s activities in the emerging markets of India and China, but the list of jurisdictions was to grow.

Before long, the SFO declared it had opened a criminal investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption at Rolls-Royce.
Rolls-Royce middlemen may have used bribes to land major contracts

In an unusual move, the company, which had conducted its own internal review of its business, made clear the seriousness of the situation. “It is too early to predict the outcomes, but these could include the prosecution of individuals and of the company. We will cooperate fully,” Rolls-Royce said.

In an effort to get ahead of the problem, but in a way that underlined its predicament, the company appointed Lord Gold, a former head of litigation at City law firm Herbert Smith, to review Rolls-Royce’s “compliance procedures”.

Four years since the first reports of potential problems, and three years since the SFO began its inquiry in earnest, the scale of the investigation has become apparent.

The Guardian has established the SFO team is now 30-strong, and is being supported by so-called “blockbuster funding” – money from the Treasury to cover exceptional costs.

“It soon became clear that it was multiple jurisdictions, across several strands of its business,” said a source with knowledge of the inquiry.
So what has happened in the past three years?

The SFO has given little away and has only confirmed making two arrests. They happened in February 2014, when it emerged that two businessmen Sudhir Choudhrie and his son Bhanu were questioned as part of its wide-ranging investigation into the activities of Rolls-Royce.

Rolls-Royce staff working on the BR725 engine. Photograph: Rolls-Royce Deutschland/Rolls-Royce plc
Neither has been charged and a few months after the arrests, the two men had their bail conditions lifted, but the Guardian understands the SFO’s inquiries are continuing.

The early focus on the Choudhries has been intriguing – their lawyers said they had not and have never been middlemen for Rolls-Royce, nor paid bribes to government officials or acted as middlemen in defence deals.

In short, they say they have done nothing wrong.

So who are they? The Choudhries are among the wealthiest and best-known families in India. They have a wide range of business interests and have become familiar faces in political circles in the UK too.

They are entrepreneurs and philanthropists, and have also been major donors to the Liberal Democrats. They and their extended families own a number of mansions in the heart of London’s Belgravia.

With such a high profile, they have not avoided scrutiny – or criticism

The 12 countries where suspicious activity linked to Rolls-Royce has been identified

In India, for instance, Sudhir Choudhrie was investigated in 2004 by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – the country’s foremost law enforcement agency – over suspicions related to alleged payoffs to a company agent.

Years later the investigation was dropped, with Choudhrie insisting he had been a victim of a plot to damage his reputation. His lawyers told the Guardian: “Sudhir Choudhrie was investigated but was never arrested. He was subsequently cleared of all allegations of wrongdoing and the investigation as a whole was closed in 2011.”

In a closure report filed in a Delhi court that year, the CBI stated it did not find any evidence to suggest there was any payoff to Choudhrie or his companies.

A list compiled and disseminated by the CBI names Sudhir Choudhrie as one of 23 “unscrupulous persons” on a list of “undesirable contact men”. The list, which has been seen by the Guardian, is undated but is understood to still be in circulation in the Indian government. Choudhrie has challenged its authenticity. His lawyers say that although he has been made aware of it, he has no knowledge of its content and has never been contacted about it by any official body.

Separately from their alleged interaction with Rolls-Royce, there have been other occasions when the family’s finances have raised concerns.

One Swiss banking source has described to the Guardian and BBC how money transfers between the Choudhrie family group’s companies sparked an anti-money laundering alert at Clariden Leu, which was then a private banking division of Credit Suisse.

The Guardian has seen a report created by the risk management team at Clariden Leu in October 2008, which highlights the flow of vast sums that triggered the inquiry.

The report analysed 18 “account relationships” and looked at money transfers between companies owned or managed by members of Bhanu Choudhrie’s extended family. One was Belinea Services Limited, which received €37,200,000 (£33,400,000) from Rosoboronexport State Corporation, the Russian state’s arms dealership. Bhanu Choudhrie was a director of Belinea.

In the year leading up to the report, another company, the Seychelles-registered Cottage Consultants, received €28,100,000 from Rosoboronexport and transferred €22,700,000 to an Isle of Man bank.

On company documents, Bhanu Choudhrie is described as the “first and sole director” of Cottage Consultants. The company is owned through bearer shares, which means it is owned by whoever physically holds the share certificates. Bhanu Choudhrie has denied being a beneficial owner of the company.

Cottage Consultants had also received €9,700,000 from an entity called “ABC”, with the money originating from Vnesheconombank, a now-sanctioned Moscow bank.

The Guardian asked Bhanu Choudhrie about the transfers that had alerted Clariden Leu. His lawyers said he had no knowledge of the internal report and any suggestion that these payments were improper or illegal was false and defamatory.

The twists and turns of the Choudhries’ business empire have rarely been out of the news in recent years, but it is their apparent knowledge of the bureaucracy and red tape in their home country – and how best to navigate it – that might make them seem ideal middlemen for any company hoping to break into the lucrative Indian market. One such firm is alleged to have been Rolls-Royce.

The firm was involved in the the massive – and massively complicated – Hawk deal, which involved India buying Rolls-Royce engines and BAE-produced planes.

A first tranche of this was agreed in 2004, a second in 2010. The total value of all the contracts involved came to £2.1bn.

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The parts were assembled at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence firm, where Sudhir Choudhrie’s uncle had been the chairman.

The Guardian has spoken to one Rolls-Royce source. The source said the Choudhries and their companies had worked with the firm during this period.

“You had to work your way and it took time,” said the Rolls-Royce source. “We needed to have Indian partners or a sister company in India.”
The source said local fixers would help arrange the deal, before senior Rolls-Royce figures arrived to complete it.

The Guardian and the BBC understand that millions of pounds of Rolls-Royce money went to the Choudhrie family.

Even if this were true, it does not mean there has been any wrongdoing. Using middlemen is not illegal, so long as they abide by the rules.

The Guardian asked the Choudhries to explain what role, if any, they – or their companies – had played in the Hawk deals. Lawyers for the Choudhries said they had not been middlemen or intermediaries and that any allegation that Rolls-Royce had paid them for the purpose of securing deals in India was untrue.

The Guardian has been told about a curious meeting between Bhanu Choudhrie and a British businessman.

It came from a banking source who spoke to the Guardian. The source alleged that Bhanu Choudhrie and a former BAE executive called Peter Ginger visited Geneva together in 2007. Ginger was BAE’s president in India until 2005.

The stories you need to read, in one handy email

The Guardian has been told that during this trip, Ginger allegedly deposited hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash into a Clariden Leu account from another account he held.

By 2009, the account, which was called No 120467 Portsmouth, held about 1m Swiss francs.
The Guardian has seen a copy of a bank document that shows the details of the Portsmouth account.

Separately, documents discovered among the Panama Papers – the investigation into the Mossack Fonseca law firm carried out by the Guardian, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and Süddeutsche Zeitung – also reveal the family of Peter Ginger asking for a payment from an educational foundation with an apparent link to Bhanu Choudhrie.

The Mossack Fonseca law firm sign in Panama City.

The Mossack Fonseca law firm sign in Panama City. Photograph: Carlos Jasso / Reuters/Reuters
An email seen by the Guardian shows the Panamanian foundation paid to cover the university costs of one of Ginger’s relatives. In one email, a member of the family requested money from the foundation to pay an allowance. “[…] is now back in [university ] for the summer term so we would be most grateful for payment to the same account as before,” he wrote.

He added: “I hope this is in order and meets with [the] foundation council’s approval. Please don’t hesitate to contact me or […] if you have any questions.”

The payment was for £540 for four weeks of “food and subsistence”.

We asked Ginger and Choudrie to explain these apparent interactions. Is there a benign explanation? Could the banking source in Geneva have got it wrong? Lawyers for Bhanu Choudhrie insist he has. “Our client has no knowledge of what bank accounts have been set up or operated by Mr Ginger or what sums (if any) he has deposited in them in cash. Mr Choudhrie did not pay any bribe to Mr Ginger.”

They added: “Our client has no knowledge of any payments made [by the Foundation].”

The Guardian asked Ginger why he visited Geneva with Bhanu Choudhrie, and why the Panamanian foundation was funding his relative’s education. He declined to comment on the allegations: “I am not prepared to talk about it at all. I’m not going to respond to the media at all.”

BAE Systems said it had “no record indicating that Mr Ginger had a personal financial relationship with Mr Choudhrie during the period that Mr Ginger was employed by the Company”.

The episode may be nothing more than an intriguing vignette, but the SFO may have an opportunity to judge for itself. The source, who asked not to be named, has offered to speak to the SFO’s investigators.

The Choudhries had to wait seven years to be cleared after Indian authorities launched an inquiry – the SFO has been looking at them, and at Rolls-Royce, for a mere three. And the investigation appears to be broadening even now.

Panorama: Rolls-Royce will be broadcast on BBC1 at 8.30pm on Monday 31 October.
If you would like to pass on any confidential information, you can send a message via the Guardian’s SecureDrop service (see how here and here).

Rolls-Royce Serious Fraud
Philip
BRF Oldie
Posts: 21538
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: India

Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by Philip »

Goodby more Hawks! This expose will shatter any future deals in the making and there will be calls for another trainer option..

http://defencenews.in/article/Rolls-Roy ... -BBC-29009
Rolls-Royce paid Sudhir Choudhrie £10 million for India Hawk deal: BBC
Tuesday, November 01, 2016
By: Indian Express
Source Link: CLICK HERE

THE BBC reported on Monday that an investigation conducted by its Panorama team and The Guardian has found evidence that suggests Rolls-Royce made secret payments of around 10 million pounds to firms linked to arms dealer Sudhir Choudhrie that may have helped the company win a major contract for engines on Hawk aircraft to India.

“The joint investigation has also found evidence of a suspicious payment that was made in cash. It involves Mr Choudhrie’s son, Bhanu, who accompanied an arms executive called Peter Ginger on a trip to Switzerland in 2007,” the report claimed.

“During the trip, Mr Ginger made a cash payment amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds into a secret bank account. The account was opened in the name of “Portsmouth” and bank documents seen by Panorama later showed a balance of more than 1mn Swiss francs,” the report claimed.

“Mr Ginger was a key negotiator on the sale of Hawk aircraft to the Indian government. All of the planes had Rolls-Royce engines and the deal was worth around 400m (pounds) to the company,” the report claimed.

According to the report, Bhanu Choudhrie’s lawyers told the BBC he has never been paid to secure deals for Rolls-Royce in India, including the sale of Hawk jets.

Rolls-Royce told BBC that it was “fully co-operating with the authorities” and “cannot comment on ongoing investigations”.

BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce had announced in July 2010 that they had signed a 700mn-pound deal to supply Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) with 57 Hawk training jets. The deal followed an order for 66 Hawk jets by India in 2004.

On October 14, The Indian Express had reported that London-based Choudhrie and his family members are beneficiaries of an offshore foundation set up in 2004 by Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca whose data was mined for the Panama Papers investigation.

The records accessed by this newspaper showed that Choudhrie’s elder son Bhanu is a director in two British Virgin Islands (BVI) companies since 2002. He is also named as director and shareholder of two Seychelles companies formed in 2007.
vina
BRF Oldie
Posts: 6046
Joined: 11 May 2005 06:56
Location: Doing Nijikaran, Udharikaran and Baazarikaran to Commies and Assorted Leftists

Re: Corruption in Arms Deals - News and Analysis

Post by vina »

Philip wrote:Goodby more Hawks! This expose will shatter any future deals in the making and there will be calls for another trainer option..
Surely you aren't THAT naive Philip . We WILL buy more Hawks. We just bought MORE Pilatus, we will shutter the Turbo Trainer that HAL just flew.

EVERY deal bar the locally produced DRDO ones are corrupt. Indeed, the reason why they ended up getting bought was because of corruption! It doesnt matter whether we bought them from some small East European country (Tatra Trucks) , Russia , France, Britain, Isreal, South Africans, Singaporeans etc. The entire system is corrupt and that is how Delhi operates.

Indeed, to navigate the system and win orders is exactly how this corrupt system operates. The only hope is that the domestic private guys (especially the ones we know of who have no scruples), will be equally corrupt and know how to navigate the system and will kick the foreign guys out, or indeed, will serve as the gate keepers to route the deals in.

The DRDO /HAL /MDL etc kind of guys are goners. They cannot pay bribes and kick backs, and indeed will get kicked in the back despite whatever good or bad they do and their products will be slowly strangled and killed, like we are seeing is happening with the Arjun , the LCA and the light helicopter.

That is the hard fact. So, let us accept it for what it is. The Kamov helicopter deal is idiotic. The LUH is a far better product with far better synergies with our installed industrial capacity . But no, we have a specious reason saying that the KAMOV will be built in the same HAL facility , alongside the LUH!

The Arjun saga is too painful to repeat. Now the Army crawls on it's knees and fits an air conditioning in their tanks. This "performance in hot conditions" without the A/C was a reason why they kept banging the Arjun , until their much vaunted electronics and doo dads started failing miserably in their T90s , while the Arjun's passed with flying colours! Now they claim "updated " specs on the Arjun MK2, and come up with some fascinating story about how the Missile should work at 1200m minimum range (so pray what is the min range of the Refleks on the T90 ?), a range within which the Arjun's main gun is absolutely lethal and no commander in his right mind would use a slow flying failure/spoof prone missile when he can unleash a sure fire Main gun sabot round with a sure kill. But no, you send the DRDO on a wild goose chase on a 1200m min range brand new missile, which you are not going to order!

Lets not bother with this anymore. We are just wasting time and effort. The only place where we actually have something working is the Navy. I would strongly advise DRDO to shut shop in all areas, except NPOL, Naval Warfare etc, and let the Army and the IAF go on their Import, Kick Back, Natasha loop.
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