CBI files charge sheet against arms dealers, advocate, and businessman in Embraer aircraft deal case
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet against arms dealers Arvind Khanna, advocate Gautam Khaitan, and businessman Anup Gupta in the Embraer corruption case in which kickbacks of USD 5.76 million were allegedly paid to swing a three-aircraft deal with the DRDO in favour of the Brazilian firm, officials said Monday. In its charge sheet filed in a special CBI court recently, the agency has invoked 120-B of the IPC, which pertains to criminal conspiracy, and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Khanna, Khaitan, and Gupta.
The CBI has dropped proceedings against NRI businessman Vipin Khanna – named in the FIR – after his death. The deal for the three aircraft, which were to be used by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for installing air-borne radar systems, was inked with Brazilian firm Embraer in 2008. The agency charged that the kickbacks worth USD 5.76 million were allegedly routed from subsidiaries of Embraer to Vipin Khanna through Singapore-based Interdev to influence officials in the DRDO.
In its FIR, the CBI had also booked Embraer and Interdev Pte Ltd in connection with the alleged corruption in the deal that was inked on July 3, 2008. The agency had registered a preliminary enquiry in September 2016 after a report in a Brazilian newspaper alleged that Embraer had roped in middlemen to clinch deals in Saudi Arabia and India.
According to the defence procurement rules of India, middlemen are strictly barred in such deals. The CBI has said that due to alleged mediation by Vipin Khanna, DRDO officials moved a proposal for the purchase of aircraft from Embraer on a single-vendor basis. “It was also alleged that in lieu of facilitating the agreement/ deal between Brazil-based firm and DRDO (India), the firm paid an amount of USD 5.76 million (approx) to the said middleman (Khanna) through Singapore-based company during the year 2009,” the CBI spokesperson had said after the filing of the FIR.
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