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Money laundering in Tatra truck deal: ED tightens noose on Ravi Rishi

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Jagran Post -Posted on: 13 Apr 2012, 12:21 PM

New Delhi: After being interrogated by the CBI for his alleged role in the Tatra truck deal, the NRI businessman Ravi Rishi now has to face the heat from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is tightening its noose around him.

The ED has filed a case against Rishi under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is mulling to recover the blackmoney from the accused. After going through the FIR filed by the CBI and the other documents, the ED officials have now decided to look into the case from the perspective of alleged money laundering.

According to sources, the links of the Tatra truck deal have been traced to England, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Earlier, in order to ascertain the original price of the supplies and detection of blackmoney earned by Rishi during the sale of trucks to the BEML, the CBI had sought help from the ED.

On the lines of the CBI, the ED has also made Rishi, BEML, Army and Defense Ministry officials as accused in the money laundering case.

Rishi has been accused of entering into a conspiracy with the officials of the Defence Ministry, Army and BEML in signing an agreement with England based company Tatra Sipox. As per the agreement, Tatra Sipox had purchased components of trucks from Czech Republic and Slovakia and supplied it to BEML at double price.

Later, the BEML manufactured trucks from these parts and supplied them to the Army which in return made the payment to Tatra Sipox.

According to the investigating agency, a share of the blackmoney earned by Rishi in the deal was distributed to the officials of the Army, Defence Ministry and BEML. The ED is now looking for the officials involved in the scam to freeze their properties.

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Tatra case: Rishi’s money trail leads CBI to UK

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CNN-IBN India | Updated Apr 08, 2012 at 09:46pm IST

New Delhi: The CBI is looking into the payments made by defence PSU BEML to Tatra Sipox UK for the supply of all terrain trucks and plans to send judicial request to the United Kingdom seeking details of its financial transactions and ownerships.
The agency suspects that payments from BEML were actually going to a tax haven, CBI sources said, adding that they are probing into it but added that the investigations are in preliminary stage.
The sources said at present they are likely to send Letters Rogatory to the UK seeking information on financial transactions of Tatra Sipox UK in which Vectra Chairman Ravinder Rishi has been a Director, owning substantial shares.
The agency will also demand details of Tatra Sipox UK’s association with Czech-republic based Tatra a.s, they said.
Rishi has refuted allegations of any wrong doing and is said to be co-operating with the agency during his questioning sessions during last week, the sources said.
The CBI is now focusing on the role of officials of Defence Ministry, BEML and army and may question them in connection with the case soon, they said.
The sources said it was in 1997 that Tatra Sipox UK signed the truck supply deal with BEML which was in alleged violation of defence procurement rules which say that procurement should be done directly from original equipment manufacturer only.
The CBI has alleged that since Tatra Sipox UK was not the original manufacturer of these all terrain trucks, the rule that defence procurements should be made from original
manufacturer was violated.
Meanwhile, Czech Republic-based Tatra a.s. had said in a statement that it supplies for India various truck components (“CKDs”) that make up approximately 30 to 35 per cent of a complete vehicle.
“The remaining components are made or supplied by other manufacturers or by BEML, an Indian government controlled company that also assembles the Tatra branded vehicles and then sells and delivers them to customers within India under license agreement for Tatra a.s,” it had said in a statement.
It had also stated that neither Ravi Rishi nor his investment company Vectra Limited, control or have controlled — directly or indirectly — Tatra a.s. “The British company Vectra Limited is a minority stakeholder in Tatra holdings and in principle holds one of
the four votes.
“Nonetheless, Tatra will request from Mr Rishi and Vectra Limited an explanation of the information about any initiated investigation of him and Vectra Ltd by Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as it relates to sales of products branded with the ‘Tatra’ name,” it had said in a statement.

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Tatra deal: CBI probes new company after Gen VK Singh accuses Vectra’s Ravi Rishi

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Neeraj Chauhan, TNN Apr 13, 2012, 12.40AM IST

NEW DELHI: CBI is investigating Venus Projects, a second company belonging to London-based businessman Ravi Rishi of Vectra group, after the NRI was named by Army chief Gen V K Singh as the person behind a Rs 14-crore bribe offer made to him in September, 2010.

The CBI is scanning Rishi over a complaint by Gen Singh that he was approached by retired Lt Gen Tejinder Singh for a contract for supply of Tatra trucks that the Army chief has said were substandard.

Rishi is being investigated for his links with Venus Projects as agency sources said the company was used by him for purchasing spare parts for Tatra trucks. The agency believes that the deal was signed between Rishi’s Vectra Group and BEML officials within three days of their meetings in 1997.

Sources said, “There was a meeting between BEML officials, Ravi Rishi’s Vectra group, Tatra Slovakia and other associates on June 11, 1997, in Slovakia, and on June 14, 1997, the MoU for procuring 600 Tatra trucks was signed in Bangalore”. CBI suspects BEML, a defence PSU, did not have a board meeting before the hurriedly-signed MoU.

Venus Projects is being seen as another link between Rishi and the Czech firm that projected the UK-based businessman’s Vectra group as the original equipment manufacturer to ensure that it remained central to any deal signed with BEML for supply of Tatra trucks, and didn’t flout the procurement norms.

Agency sources say that they have sought time from Gen V K Singh to know more about the bribe offer. The probe team is hoping to meet the Army chief on Friday, and later call Tejinder Singh for questioning.

The agency has sought documents of Venus Projects and Tatra Sipox (UK) to know about the meetings held in June, 1997. CBI is also likely to call officials of BEML who were involved in the MoU signed on June 14, 1997. CBI is also examining a large number of documents related to contracts of BEML for procuring Tatra trucks since 1997. The agency will also be questioning BEML chief V R S Natarajan soon.

The agency is also in the process of sending Letter Rogatories (LRs) to Czech Republic (original Tatra a s is based there), Slovakia and the UK.