Tag Archives: Vectra

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Background check on Tejinder by CBI

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Neeraj Chauhan, TNN | Apr 25, 2012, 05.15AM IST

NEW DELHI: Probing the Tatra trucks procurement scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation is carrying out a background check on Lt Gen (Retd) Tejinder Singh as it prepares to question him later this week. The agency, sources said, has asked the defence ministry to provide all details related to Lt Gen Singh – files, his meetings and people who frequently met him. Sources said the agency was trying to establish Vectra chief Ravi Rishi’s link with Lt Gen Singh.

“To establish the bribery offer, we have to find out Lt Gen Tejinder Singh’s link with Vectra group. We will check files of MoD to know about people who visited him and documents signed by him when he was serving in the Army,” a top CBI officer said. The agency is also expected to convert the preliminary enquiry into the alleged bribery offer to Army chief General V K Singh into a regular case soon.

The agency has, meanwhile, collected around 64 files from Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) to probe the Tatra scam. These files have details of proposals, tenders papers, technical examination documents, suppliers, supply orders and payments related to procurement of Tatra trucks since 1997 in the Indian Army. To understand these documents, two colonel rank officers are helping the CBI in the probe.

The agency is also looking at the “quid pro quo” angle in the Tatra procurement deal. It is probing whether somebody in the defence ministry or Army benefitted all these years for making sure that Tatra trucks were procured by BEML through Tatra Sipox (UK) only.

Meanwhile, the CBI on Tuesday again questioned Vectra executive Anil Mansaramani at its headquarters while another Vectra employee was quizzed in Mumbai. The Vectra employees are being confronted with several documents picked up from the defence ministry and BEML.

The Army chief has provided several documents to the agency and has assured that he would give more evidence. Gen Singh had claimed that Lt Gen Tejinder Singh had offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore in his office on September 22, 2010 for clearing a tranche of sub-standard Tatra trucks. The agency has recorded the chief’s statement.

Drdo

Lt Gen Tejinder visited Army chief on Sept 22: Register

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Neeraj Chauhan, TNN Apr 23, 2012, 02.49AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing Army chief General V K Singh’s claim that he was offered a Rs 14 crore bribe by Lt Gen (Retd) Tejinder Singh, has found that the “visitor’s register” of South Block has an entry showing that Lt Gen Tejinder Singh had visited the Army chief’s office on September 22, 2010.

The visitor’s entry in the register, which was taken by the CBI on Friday from South Block, has been signed by Lt Gen (Retd) Tejinder Singh and it mentions “official to meet” as Gen V K Singh.
A senior CBI officer said this was a “major evidence” to show that Lt Gen Tejinder Singh was in the Army chief’s office that day but what transpired inside the room, the alleged bribery offer, is yet to be proved. The Army chief assured CBI officials in his meeting on Friday that he would provide more evidence soon.

A CBI team had recorded Gen V K Singh’s statement in two rounds on Friday and picked up the ‘visitor’s register’. Apart from the register, the agency has also collected several documents provided by the Army chief, which reportedly include documents related to the Tatra deal and communications between the defence ministry and BEML.

Gen V K Singh had earlier this month given a written complaint to the CBI alleging that Lt Gen Tejinder Singh had come to his office on September 22, 2010 and had offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore on behalf of Vectra group chairman Ravi Rishi to clear a deal of sub-standard Tatra trucks for the Indian Army. Sources said on that day, Gen V K Singh had asked his staff to “escort him (Lt Gen Tejinder Singh) out of his office” and reportedly asked Lt Gen Tejinder Singh “not to come again”.

Refuting the allegations, Lt Gen Tejinder Singh claimed in an interview that “he used to meet Gen V K Singh frequently for professional work and that he had gone to his (Gen V K Singh’s) office in September 2010 for some personal work”. He has also filed a defamation suit against the Army chief.

The agency is probing a preliminary enquiry into the alleged bribery offer and is expected to convert it into a regular case soon. Agency sources said they might question Lt Gen Tejinder Singh next week.

The agency has also collected some evidence in its probe in the Tatra procurement scam. Gen V K Singh too has provided important documents to the agency. The CBI has already approached Interpol to get details of companies related to Ravi Rishi in at least four countries- Czech Republic, Slovakia, UK and Liechtenstein.

Drdo

Did Lt Gen (Retd) Tejinder Singh have a mole in Gen VK singh’s office?

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Neeraj Chauhan, TNN | Apr 24, 2012, 01.36AM IST

NEW DELHI: Army chief General V K Singh has told CBI officials that the day Lt Gen (Retd) Tejinder Singh came to visit him in his South Block office (September 22, 2010) and made a bribery offer of Rs 14 crore, the file relating to purchase of Tatra trucks was lying on his table.

Sources said the agency is probing the likelihood of some “black sheep” in Army Headquarters or the Army chief’s office tipping off Lt Gen Tejinder Singh that the Tatra file was awaiting Gen Singh’s clearance and whether that prompted the retired lieutenant general to pay the chief a visit.

The CBI, which is likely to question Lt Gen Singh this week, is also poring over his call records to ascertain if someone called him on that day to inform him about the Tatra file. Agency sources said the call records would also prove if Lt Gen Singh was in touch with Vectra chief Ravi Rishi either before or after his meeting with the Army chief.

Gen Singh has also told CBI officials that when he saw the number of trucks to be procured mentioned on the Tatra file, he called up all his commands to know about their requirement and “the requirement of Army commands was way less than what was mentioned on the file”. CBI sources believe a section in the Army Headquarters which was lobbying for Tatra trucks could have facilitated the file’s movement up to the chief’s office.

After seeing such a large number of Tatra trucks mentioned in the file, the Army chief had cancelled the deal, sources said. CBI officials refused to give details of the requirement mentioned on the file. “The number of trucks required mentioned on file were much higher than the actual requirement by all the commands of the Army,” said a top source.

These facts were given by Gen Singh to a CBI team on Friday when it recorded his statement. The agency has already found the record of Lt Gen Tejinder Singh’s visit on that day from the visitor’s register. The Army chief has also provided several documents, which suggest that Tatra trucks were wrongly favoured.

The Army chief has assured CBI of providing more evidence soon.

In another development, after fresh revelations of Rishi and his family members being the beneficiaries of Hemang Foundation, a trust based in Liechtenstein which fully controls Tatra Sipox (UK), the CBI on Monday again questioned Rishi at its headquarters. The agency also quizzed Vectra group executive Anil Mansaramani.

Drdo

Tatra deal: CBI raids houses of two retired Army officers

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Neeraj Chauhan, TNN | Apr 19, 2012, 03.55AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation raided residences of two retired Army officers in connection with the Tatra-Vectra deal while investigators are also pursuing leads pointing to a nexus between Vectra head Ravi Rishi and the top brass of Indian public sector firm BEML.

The CBI on Wednesday carried out raids at the residences of Brigadier (retd) P C Das in Vasant Kunj and Colonel (retd) Anil Dutta in Noida. Das was also questioned at the CBI headquarters while the residence of a Vectra executive Anil Mansaramani at Noida was also searched.

CBI sources said they suspect Das and Dutta as having worked as conduits for Vectra head Rishi who is a London-based businessman. The agency feels that the two retired officers were liasioning for Vectra that is a crucial link in supply of Tatra trucks to the Army that is now under a graft cloud.

CBI hopes to make more progress when Army chief Gen V K Singh meets investigators after April 19 and his statement is recorded. The chief had set the cat among the pigeons by alleging that he was offered a Rs 14 crore bribe for the “underperforming” vehicles.

The agency questioned BEML chairman V R S Natarajan for almost six hours on Wednesday and sources said the probe was at a delicate stage as definite leads have emerged regarding BEML and Rishi in the Tatra trucks procurement process.

CBI reportedly asked Natarajan if he tried to verify, when BEML signed a contract with Tatra Sipox (UK), if any of the parts for making Tatra trucks were available with another company in India, said sources. Natarajan was also asked if BEML tried to find out the nature of Tatra Sipox (UK) contracts with other countries on supplies.

Natarajan and Rishi have refuted the allegations of any wrong doing.

Vectra, which has controlling stake in Tatra Sipox UK, and is at the centre of CBI investigations into alleged irregularities in the supply of all terrain vehicle components to the public sector BEML which assembles and supplies these vehicles to the Army. Along with Natarajan, Rishi was questioned for the ninth time on Wednesday.

It was in the light of information provided by Natarajan and Rishi, the agency found it necessary to search residences of the retired Army officials and the Vectra employee to try and gather documents that could help the agency. sources said. The CBI is looking for a link between Lt Gen (Retd) Tejinder Singh – who the army chief claims offered him a bribe — with Rishi through the two retired army officers.

Drdo

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.

Drdo

GENERAL V K SINGH’S CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION DESERVES NATIONAL RECOGNITION

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From: Kapoor, Pramod (NSN – IN/Gurgaon) <pramod.kapoor@nsn.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 9:26 PM
Subject: Fwd: Tatra Scam
To:
The latest media hot spot is the revelations by General V K Singh, Chief of Army Staff, about the bribe offer made to him for signing on the purchase order for Czech made Tatra Vehicles. He informed of the bribe offer to his senior, the defense minister, A K Anthony –a man with a reputation for honesty like his big brother, Man Mohan Singh. Neither V K Singh nor Anthony acted on the matter at that time.

Here is a scoop in the attachment by Arun Agrawal, who has dug information about the case filed against an Indian (origin?) business man in Czech republic for causing loss to the tune of some CzecKč 270 million
to vehicle manufacturer Tatra by under recovering the cost of manufacture of these vehicles and also foregoing the profits. The Indian Businessman is Vice-Chairman of the Czech firm and also the owner of UK company –Vectra- through which the sales to India were routed. Arun Agrawal’s writings in the past have shown that he is to be trusted over what he writes.

SCOOP 

CRIMINAL CASE FILED AGAINST TRUCK SCAMSTER RISHI IN CZECH ONE YEAR BACK

GENERAL V K SINGH’S CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION DESERVES NATIONAL RECOGNITION

REFER www.czechposition.com

It should be clear, by now to every moron who went on defending the government in the tussle between the army chief and the Minister that it was the General who upright and honest. And that he was made to pay the price for his honesty in trying to clean up the system..

 

Fighting corruption in the army is not easy. It means war on three different fronts. The politician who is above you, corrupt colleagues who are with you and the moneybags of the arms mafia..  Fighting your own is very different from fighting the enemy.

And here we had the most comical situation of a honest general working under a honest Minister. It is a rarity. However, the clash of two honest personalities can be very dangerous, more so if one is manipulated by the corrupt.

Relations had not soured between the two, when the General reported the bribing incident to his Minister,. Yet all that the Minister did was beat his forehead ( for lack of a better phrase).. Both admit to the reaction..

The Minister counseled that such people should be kept out and the General did not want to pursue the matter further.

While the General’s reaction in being reluctant to take on  senior colleagues is understandable, the reaction of the Minister is not.

Defence purchase falls within his domain. In the age of internet it was not difficult for anyone  to know that Vectra of U K was not the producer of Tatra trucks but was a middleman. It was also not difficult  to know that Tatra was a Czech company , the original manufacturer. It was also not difficult to know the price at which the trucks were being  sold by Czeck company Tatra and the price paid byIndia..

 

All this information was with the General and that is why he did  not sign on the purchase order and wanted to purchase the trucks directly. He knew thatIndiahad been procuring the trucks at more than twice the price sold by the parent company.

The General had done his homework.. It may be a conjecture but there is reason to believe that he informed the Minster and the reason for keeping out the supplier was over invoicing of over 100% which would have compromised their integrity. It was also the reason for the Minister beating his forehead !

 The scam was not in the bribe offered to the General but in the purchase price of the equipment. Could he or his advisers not understand this simple truth.

 

If a  product was being bought  at twice the price for which it was available in the open market then it does not require a genius to divine that bribes had been paid!  Not only bribes but large bribes have been paid to lots of people because each one knows the quantum of profit being made by the middleman.

However only a small percentage of the bribe  ( which is large in absolute terms- 14 crores in this case) was to be paid to the men in uniform, which the  General refused.

The large chunk of bribe was to be paid to those who were not in uniform. And all these persons were within the jurisdiction of the Minister.

 

Hence the matter was squarely within the domain of the Minister and it was a major omission on his part not to order investigation on defence purchase worth thousands of crores  which were procured for twice the market price.

The scam has been going on for a decade and hence the unity of the political parties demanding the resignation of the General Singh.

Contrast the ignorance of the Minister with the discovery made by the author ( with no resources or staff ) in two hours of net surfing. The following information which is a news report fromCzech republicis most damning.:

Ravinder Kumar Rishi, the chief scamster in the deal, was not only swindling the Indian government but also the Czech government.

A criminal case was filed against him in the country where Tatra trucks were manufactured almost a year back for the supplies made toIndia! .

The article dated 27/4/11 on a Czeck website states:

Tatra faces tunneling and tax evasion allegations

Anonymous plaintiff accuses the major owner and management of Tatra truck maker of tunneling profits and tax evasion

The management and a major shareholder in the iconic Czech truck producer Tatra face a criminal complaint for allegedly failing to ensure proper oversight of assets. The anonymous plaintiff claims that the sale of truck parts at knock-down prices toIndiavia an intermediary British company has damaged the company.

Václav Láska, a former high-ranking police investigator, lawyer and one-time head of the local branch of watchdog Transparency International, has lodged a criminal complaint against the management of Tatra trucks and one of the firm’s major shareholders, Indian businessman Ravinder Kumar Rishi, on behalf of plaintiffs who wish to remain anonymous due to fears of “labor persecution,” the daily Právo reported on Wednesday.

Vectra allegedly profits from Tatra’s loss

Since 2005, Tatra has supplied so-called complete knock-down kits (CKD), containing all the components of haulage  Láska claims that between 2005 and 2010 Tatra lost profits of around Kč 270 milliontrucks to the Indian state-owned firm Beml Limited, which then assembles the vehicles in India. The transactions have been conducted through British-registered intermediary firm Vectra Limited, which, according to the charges, has frequently purchased the CKD kits at below production cost, thus causing losses to the Czech company running into millions of crowns.

“The Tatra company sells kits to the British company Vectra Limited without a profit margin, and even at prices lower than the cost of manufacturing. All margins from this business, i.e. all profits from these transactions, go only to the accounts of the British company,” Láska told Právo. “The fact that the representatives of Tatra allow these transactions clearly contradicts the principles of sound economic governance.”

Láska claims that between 2005 and 2010 Tatra lost around Kč 270 million in potential profit. The calculation is based on a profit margin of 10 percent per kit, which he says the management intentionally forfeited in order to sell the goods to Vectra Limited at a knock-down price. Láska also says that through the transactions the company also avoided paying tens of millions of crowns in tax.

“By transferring the considerable profits to the British company, the Tatra company reduced its income tax payments by tens of millions of crowns,” Láska said.

Alleged misuse of information

Ravinder Kumar Rishi, deputy chairman of Tatra’s supervisory board, is also the owner of Vectra Limited and thus de facto represents both Tatra and Vectra in business negotiations — and the transactions in question. According to Láska, Ravinder Kumar Rishi may have misused information in these business relations.

In 2010, Tatra supplied 600 CKD kits to the Indian company Beml — which assembles the trucks and has large orders with the Indian army — and according to Láska, Tatra has committed to deliver a further 460 kits this year. “If the criminal complaint is deemed to be justified, steps could be taken which will curtail further losses and also stop additional tax evasion,” Láska told Právo

The question to be answered is this:

If a criminal complaint was filed against the company and Ravinder Kumar Rishi by the Czech republic for merely causing a loss of 10% on profits foregone due to under invoicing a year back, then what action did the defence Minister take against Vectra whch as a middleman had supplied trucks at more than 100 %  the amount for which Tatra sold in the open market? This scam was going on for the past ten years.

Rishi cheated Czechs by 10% but the Indians by more than 100% !

I will bet top dollar that the anonymous plaintiff referred to in the article is an Indian source who had no faith in the Indian system to act and therefore chose to go through the head of Transparency International.

Could it be the good General  or a source close to him? Your guess is as good as mine!

It is difficult to believe that the Czech authorities did not correspond with the Indian government within the past one year. They do have an embassy in India! Where are the records of the correspondences?

 

The General was made to pay the price for his anti corruption crusade in the Sukhna land scam and the Adarsh Society scam, including the court marshalling  of  Lt. Gen. Avdesh Prakash, who was Military Secretary under Gen. Deepak Kapoor.

It is time that Mr Anthony realizes his mistake. He is e surrounded by corrupt people who are using his  reputation as a shield.

What is at stake is the loss of faith of the people in honest ministers. Manmohan Singh and then Mr Anthony ! What good is the virtue of honesty? Is there any hope of redemption left for the country?

The General will go in a blaze of glory but the Minister will not.

And for those who are aligned with the arms mafia and ask for the reason as to why the General did not take action on the Tatra scam ? Against whom would he take action? Procurement of defence equipment is not under his charge. Did you expect him to take on the retired generals and ex Chiefs who were paid off for signing the document that he refused to sign ? Would there be any proof? Where would that get him? Would you take on a ex defence Minister or a corrupt Minister in the Cabinet? Was the issue of Bofors pursued by the Army Chief?

A General is not a General if he is not a good tactician. General V K Singh proved to be a master tactician in the manner in which he took on the entire system of corruption in the Army and in the Ministry.

This General showed that he had earned all his stars. The nation could give him one more.

General V K Singh a big salute to you..

Even if you could not win the war against corruption with Anthony as your Minister!

In the end the General proved to the nation that even the most honest politician of our times is not good enough to prevent the huge corruption that infests  defence deals.

 

Drdo

New details emerge on Tatra truck deal

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THE HINDU

NEW DELHI, April 2, 2012

PRAVEEN SWAMI,VINAY KUMAR

CBI questions London millionaire again

Even as Central Bureau of Investigation detectives have begun questioning Ravi Rishi, the London-based millionaire businessman at the heart of the showdown between the Defence Ministry and Chief of the Army Staff V.K. Singh, fresh details have begun to emerge of the truck deal that precipitated the crisis.

Rajan Mukherjee, the general manager of West Bengal-based Ural India, has told The Hindu that General Singh — then General Officer-Commanding of the Eastern Command — had requested the firm to provide trucks for testing in 2008, after Tatra trucks sold by Mr. Rishi’s firm “miserably failed 17 Mountain for performing Quick Reaction Team and reconnaissance duties in [the] super-high altitude areas of northern Sikkim.”

“Defects”

“During the trials,” Mr. Mukherjee said in an e-mail to The Hindu, “the Tatra vehicle developed defects in engine assembly, whereas Ural’s engine performance was satisfactory even after running about 600 km at high altitude.”

Mr. Rishi owns Vectra, a conglomerate which has a controlling stake in Czech and Slovak-based specialist truck firm Tatra, which has supplied the Indian Army since 1986.

Rashi Verma, a Joint Secretary at the Defence Ministry, had said last week that the government had “never received any complaint from the armed forces” — a statement which suggests the Eastern Command either chose not to pass on its problems with the Tatra to the army headquarters in New Delhi, or that its reports were suppressed by higher authorities.

In an exclusive interview to The Hindu published on March 26, General Singh had said he was offered a Rs. 14-crore bribe, which, it emerged, was linked to an officer allegedly representing Tatra to clear a consignment of 600 trucks.

There is no information available so far if Ural India’s trucks were the sole platform tested by the Eastern Command in Northern Sikkim and if so, why. Ural is co-owned by Kolkata-based magnate J.K. Saraf, who knew Gen. Singh during his tenure as Eastern Army Commander. There is no allegation, however, of the relationship having caused improper influence to be exercised.

Mr. Mukherjee’s claims, however, stand in stark contrast to earlier statements by VRS Natarajan, the head of public-sector giant BEML, which co-manufactures Tatra trucks in India. Mr. Natarajan claimed that Ural India’s trucks had been knocked out of competition in the ongoing trials, a claim Mr. Mukherjee has denied in his e-mail to The Hindu, adding that his firm is considering “appropriate action.”

The BEML chief, however, has since been backed by Defence Research and Development Organisation chief V.K. Saraswat, who said Tatra trucks were “outstanding.” Both BEML and Tatra have said they are considering legal action against General Singh, but provided no details of their course of action.

Army sources said the problem encountered in Sikkim could have been related to the Tatra truck’s engine, which is designed for rugged battlefield use, compromising high-altitude performance in return for lower risks of breakdown.

CBI officials refused comment on the issues they had discussed with Mr. Rishi, but the businessman has been barred from leaving India until further notice.

He was earlier questioned by the agency officials last week, soon after the CBI registered an FIR in the case. CBI officials were also poring over and analysing a number of documents seized during raids in Delhi, Noida and Bangalore.

Apart from Mr. Rishi, the FIR refers to unknown officials of BEML, Vectra and the Army. The case was registered under provisions of the Indian Penal Code relating to criminal conspiracy to cheat and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The investigators are tasked with looking into all purchases of Tatra trucks made from 1997, when Vectra took control of Tatra. Since 1986, the Army has purchased some 7,000 Tatra trucks to transport troops and artillery.