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Government asks CBI to probe in allegations of corruption in purchase of three Embraer aircrafts

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By Express News Service Published: 15th September 2016 – The New Indian Express
NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has started analyzing allegations of Brazilian aviation major Embraer hiring a UK-based agent and paying commissions to swing the $208 million deal for three Emb-145 aircraft inked with India during UPA rule in 2008.

The government had asked the agency to probe in allegations of corruption in the purchase of three Embraer aircraft for Defence Research and Development Organisation in 2008

The agency sources said officials are going through the reference and any decision to start a probe in the matter will be taken soon after analysing all the documents.

If the agency is satisfied that it has enough prima facie evidence to initiate an FIR, it will start or else it might register a preliminary enquiry to gather enough material for registering a regular case, they said.

Government had stated that the allegations were of a serious nature and the CBI will probe.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier this week said that, “If there is a criminal angle, then the CBI will probe as the Ministry cannot”. “If only procedural issues are involved, then the Defence Ministry can do an internal investigation,” he had said.

The deal for purchase of three Embraer aircraft during the UPA regime has kicked up dust with US authorities going into alleged payment of kickbacks. The deal has come under the scanner of the US Justice Department which has been probing Embraer for alleged payment of bribes to secure contracts.
Soon after, the reports of irregularity surfaced, the DRDO has already sought a report from the Brazilian firm, which has said it has been looking into graft allegations over the last five years.

DRDO investigation through report from Brazilian firm is a separate investigation. Parallel investigation has been started by CBI

The Special Investigation Team probing AgustaWestland bribery scandal will also probe this scam.

The deal was signed in 2008 between Embraer and the DRDO for three aircraft equipped with indigenous radars for AEW&C (airborne early warning and control systems). The first “modified” aircraft was delivered to DRDO in 2011, with the other two following later.

After several missed deadlines, the AEW&C project is now slated to be completed by December. Present DRDO chief S Christopher was the AEW&C programme director and head of the Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) before he was chosen to head DRDO in May 2015 by the NDA government.

Sources claimed that role of the committee, comprised of officials from IAF and DRDO is also under scanner, which shortlisted the Embraer deal.

Brazil’s top newspaper, the ‘Folha de Sao Paulo’, had reported on September 8 that the possible bribery in the 2008 Indian deal was under the scanner of the US justice department, which has been investigating Embraer since 2010, after a contract with the Dominican Republic raised suspicion. The scope of the investigation has now been widened to examine Embraer’s dealings with eight other countries, including India and Saudi Arabia.

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Embraer aircraft deal: Defence Ministry asks CBI to probe allegations

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By: PTI | New Delhi – September 14, 2016 -The New Indian Express
The deal for purchase of three Embraer aircraft during the UPA regime has kicked up dust with US authorities going into alleged payment of kickbacks.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier this week said that, “If there is a criminal angle then the CBI will probe as the Ministry cannot”. (AP Photo)
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier this week said that, “If there is a criminal angle then the CBI will probe as the Ministry cannot”. (AP Photo)

The Defence Ministry has asked the CBI to probe allegations that kickbacks were paid in the USD 208 million Embraer aircraft deal that DRDO had struck with the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer during the UPA rule in 2008. Government sources said that since the allegations were of a serious nature, the CBI has been asked to probe. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier this week said that, “If there is a criminal angle then the CBI will probe as the Ministry cannot”.
“If only procedural issues are involved, then the Defence Ministry can do an internal investigation,” he had said. The deal for purchase of three Embraer aircraft during the UPA regime has kicked up dust with US authorities going into alleged payment of kickbacks. The deal has come under the scanner of the US Justice Department which has been probing Embraer for alleged payment of bribes to secure contracts.
DRDO has already sought a report from the Brazilian firm, which has said it has been looking into graft allegations over the last five years. The deal was signed in 2008 between Embraer and the DRDO for three aircraft equipped with indigenous radars for AEW&C (airborne early warning and control systems).

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier this week said that, “If there is a criminal angle then the CBI will probe as the Ministry cannot”. (AP Photo)

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CBI may probe Embraer deal, if needed, hints Parrikar

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ANI | Sep 11, 2016,- The Times of India
VADODARA: With the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) writing to Brazilian company Embraer, seeking details on a report that it employed an agent to sell three EMB 145 aircraft to the DRDO in 2008, defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday asserted that if the issues display a criminal nature, then it will be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Speaking to the media here, Parrikar stated he has asked the DRDO to submit a complete report on the matter on Monday, and it will be only after that that he can make a concrete statement.
“I am not going to give a knee-jerk reaction and just make a statement based on rumours. I have asked for a report, which will be submitted on Monday, and if the issues are of a criminal nature, then we can forward this case to the CBI for a criminal investigation. If there are just procedural issues, then we can do an internal investigation,” Parrikar said.
Admitting that he was himself unaware on several nuances of the issue since it happened in 2008, the defence minister reiterated that he will make a composite statement on the case only after he gets the report on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked the Centre to probe the aircraft bribery allegations linked to manufacturers of the Embraer.
A joint US-Brazil investigation into Embraer has uncovered a bribery case leading to a deal signed between the company and DRDO in 2008 for three aircraft equipped with indigenous radars for AEW&C (airborne early warning and control systems).
The company has been under the scanner of the United States Justice Department since 2010 after a contract with the Dominican Republic raised suspicions.
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DRDO to seek explanation from Embraer over kickback allegation

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By: PTI | New Delhi | Published:September 10, The New Indian Express

The deal was signed in 2008 between Embraer and the DRDO for three aircraft equipped with indigenous radars for AEW&C (airborne early warning and control systems).DRDO_Logo_New copy

 

India’s defence research agency DRDO will seek explanation and details from Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer over alleged payment of kickbacks in the USD 208-million jet deal inked during the UPA regime. After receipt of information by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), further steps may be initiated, the Defence Ministry said today after it emerged that the 2008 deal has come under the scanner of US authorities which have been probing Embraer for alleged payment of bribe to secure contracts.
“DRDO to seek explanation and details from manufacture of Embraer aircraft on media reports on aircraft deal signed in 2008. “On receipt of information by the DRDO, further steps may be initiated,” the Ministry said. The deal was signed in 2008 between Embraer and the DRDO for three aircraft equipped with indigenous radars for AEW&C (airborne early warning and control systems). The company has been under investigation by the United States Justice Department since 2010 when a contract with the Dominican Republic raised the Americans’ suspicions.
Since then, the investigation has widened to examine business dealings with eight more countries. “Investigations that have been opened by the government of the United States to establish whether Embraer paid bribes in order to obtain contracts abroad have affected deals that the Brazilian company closed with Saudi Arabia and India,” Brazalian newspaper Folha De São Paulo reported. It is suspected that a leading Indian middleman based in UK was roped in for the deal. DRDO chief S Christopher, who headed the AEW&S programme earlier, did not pick up calls or respond to messages.
Embraer is cooperating with the investigations and announced in July that it was expecting to reach a deal soon with American authorities, the paper said. The company has put USD 200 million aside to pay any eventual fines that come about as a result of the process. The company has not released details regarding the state of the investigations, but three people who have been following the case have confirmed to Folha that the deals concluded in Saudi Arabia and India are being examined, the paper reported.
In both cases, suspicions were underlined in May this year when an employee with more than 30 years at the company reached a plea-bargain agreement in investigations being conducted by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in Brazil. Albert Phillip Close, Manager of Embraer’s defence area, told Prosecutor Marcello Miller that he had heard a former sales director who worked in Europe admit to American investigators the payment of commissions to facilitate the sale of aircraft to the Saudis.
In November of 2010, the company announced the delivery of two Embraer 170 executive jets to the Saudi Arabian
state-owned oil company Aramco. The amount of the deal was not announced at the time.