Shoddy Defence Deals – London lobby of Tatra Truck scamsters milking Indian Navy’s Rs.1800 crores Submarine Rescue supply also

PGurus have accessed a lot of materials from our well-wishers based in London about the big frauds in the Defence deals in India linked to Tatra Trucks scamsters and the late Ravi Rishi who passed away in mid-2016. It is shocking to know that his companies, now controlled by his family members are still engaged in many deals with India’s Defence Ministry, with the help of politicians cutting across political lines and uncouth bureaucrats. Today onwards we are running a series titled as – Shoddy Defence Deals – to expose the London based operators looting India’s public exchequer.

Shoddy Defence Deals – Part 1

Tatra Trucks scam hit the headlines in 2012 after the then Army Chief General V K Singh revealed that one Lt. Gen Tejinder Singh offered a bribe to him for approving the purchase. After Czechoslovakia’s disintegration, the supply of Tatra Trucks was controlled by a London settled, Delhi based Ravi Rishi (the full name is Ravinder Kumar Rishi) and in this case, the Defence Minister A K Antony also spoke about the bribe attempt. Ravi Rishi was routing the deals through his firm Vectra Group, where his partner was none other than fugitive arms trader Sanjay Bhandari, who is considered to be dealing with some portion of assets of Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra.

The dairies/ emails of the late Ravi Rishi accessed by PGurus’ London based researchers (some are private investigators also) expose that Ravi Rishi used to meet Sonia Gandhi early in the morning at a Chapel in Chanakyapuri whenever he landed in Delhi. We have also seen many photos of many VIPs (Politicians, Bureaucrats, Journalists – one such racketeer journalist was in jail recently) enjoying life in London with Ravi Rishi, who also has a home in Delhi’s posh Kailash Colony.

Let us get back to Tatra Scam – In 2011- 2012 India was facing a massive anti-corruption movement and the plethora of scams hit the Congress Government’s tenure and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered two cases in the Tatra Trucks scam. One was based on General VK Singh’s complaint about bribe offer and recently in mid-August 2019, the trial court has framed charges against Lt. Gen. Tejinder Singh[1].

Now let us see how corrupt politicians and bureaucrats work in tandem with whoever rules the country. The CBI also registered a second case in the Tatra scam, which is the main scam detailing the decades-long bribery in the purchase of trucks for the Indian Army at a very inflated price through the London lobby headed by Ravi Rishi. After CBI’s First Information Report (FIR) in 2012, Ravi Rishi’s Vectra Group and all companies including him and his Directors were blacklisted and all their business with Defence, Home Ministries and other departments were stopped. The Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) firm BEML (Bharat Earth Movers Limited) was totally part and parcel of Ravi Rishi’s looting in supplying Tatra Trucks[2].

But in August 2014, the CBI filed a closure report in this main case saying nothing substantial was found. But till date, the Court has not approved this dubious closure report by the CBI and the next date of hearing is posted for September 9, 2019. The CBI for the past five years tells the Judge that they are not getting any documents from Defence Ministry to pursue the case in the purchase of decades-long Tatra Trucks. It was Arun Jaitley as Defence Minister that asked the CBI to close the case in August 2014. It is well known that Jaitley and Ravi Rishi are good friends and neighbours in Kailash Colony. Jaitley’s home is A-44 and Ravi Rishi’s home is A-54 in Kailash Colony. Anyway both are not here now.

Using this CBI closure report, Ravi Rishi again started entering into Defence deals (soon after Kailash Colony neighbour Arun Jaitley became Defence Minister) with some offset contracts. Ravi Rishi, suffering from cancer later passed away in mid-2016. Former Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi was Ravi Rishi’s counsel against the CBI[3].   How CBI closure report, which was not yet approved by the trial Court is used as fake clean chit and allowed his companies to enter into defence deals? It is the real Million Dollar Question.

The Delhi trial court’s Order framing charges against Lt. General Tejinder Singh has created panic in CBI and Defence Ministry now. Why? Because CBI and Defence Ministry has to answer now why they closed the main case involving London based arms dealer Ravi Rishi in August 2014. In 2010, Intelligence Bureau caught Ravi Rishi in connection with Russian spying and he was saved by then Home Minister P Chidambaram.

With the help of politicians and corrupt bureaucrats, late Ravi Rishi’s firm, which is nothing a but a shell company, bagged an offset contract of 193 Million British Pounds (around Rs.1800 crores) worth deal of the prestigious firm James Fisher and Sons with the Indian Navy for supplying two complete units of Submarine Rescue Systems in December 2018. The late Ravi Rishi’s Benami firm MIL Vehicles and Technologies Private Limited bagged the offset contract of this big Indian Navy deal. This shell firm is having only just Rs.3 lakhs as paid-up capital and this shell firm’s first address in Government records is A-54, Kailash Colony, New Delhi – 110048 – which is also the home address of the late Ravi Rishi.

To be continued soon – What are the other deals in Defence and who are all backing the London based Defence Dealers…

References:

[1] Court frames charges against Tejinder Singh – Aug 17, 2019, The Hindu

[2] Tatra deals: CBI questions Ravi Rishi – Jul 16, 2016, The Hindu

[3] Tatra scam: CBI opposes Ravinder Rishi’s plan to travel abroad – Aug 7, 2012, India Today

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