CBI books Rolls Royce, arms dealers for graft
New Delhi, May 29
The CBI has filed a case against British aerospace and defence company Rolls Royce PLC, top executives of its Indian unit and arms dealers for alleged corruption in the procurement of Hawk 115 Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Navy, officials said.
The CBI has registered a case against Tim Jones, director, Rolls Royce India, alleged arms dealers Sudhir Choudhrie and his son Bhanu, Rolls Royce PLC and British Aerospace (BAE) Systems under the Indian Penal company paid intermediaries, even though the agreements, integrity pacts and associated documents of the deal “prohibited such payments”.
Hawk aircraft
According to the CBI, unidentified public servants allegedly misused their positions and facilitated the procurement of Hawk 115 AJT aircraft.
The Cabinet Committee on Security had approved the procurement of 66 Hawk 115 AJT aircraft on September 3, 2003, for approximately Rs 5,653.44 crore. The deal sanctioned purchase of 24 BAE Hawk 115Y AJTs in a fly-away condition, besides licensed manufacturing of 42 aircraft by HAL.
The HAL delivered 42 aircraft to the IAF between August 2008 and May 2012.
In 2012, media reports alleging corruption in the Rolls Royce operations surfaced, resulting in an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, London. The company prepared a statement of fact that disclosed its illegal payments concerning transactions with countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and India.
The statement disclosed that during a survey on January 9, 2006, the Income Tax Department had seized vital documents pertaining to the list of intermediaries who were paid for securing the deal.
“The department had recorded the statement of Jones. Rolls Royce PLC was involved in bribing tax officials and others to prevent an investigation by Indian authorities into its tax affairs and use of intermediaries in the deal,” alleged the CBI, adding that there were reasons to believe that significant amounts paid to intermediaries were routed to public servants in India.
