New Delhi: Yet another defence deal has come under suspicion with Ukraine seeking India’s help to investigate alleged kickbacks in purchase of spares for the An-32 military transport aircraft. ‘The Indian Express’, citing records it has access to, has reported that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NAB) had February 13 sent a “request for international legal assistance” to the ministry of home affairs through the Indian envoy in Kiev; the NAB is investigating alleged kickbacks to the tune of $2.6 million (Rs 17.55 crore) and suspects the involvement of Indian defence ministry officials in the scam.
NAB has sought the identities of the defence ministry officials who participated in the negotiations, development, signing and implementation of the contract, ‘IE’ has reported.
“The NAB’s suspicion, records show, stems from the fact that nearly 11 months after Ukrainian state-run Spetstechnoexport signed the agreement with Ministry of Defence (Air Force Headquarters) on November 26, 2014, for supply of spares to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Spetstechnoexport signed another pact with a little-known Global Marketing SP Ltd for its implementation,” the report says.
The NAB has reason to believe that the Indian defence officials involved with the deal “might be witness of the circumstances” in which Spetstechnoexport signed the second agreement with Global Marketing August 13, 2015, although it was not called for. Both sides had already sealed the main deal in November 2014, the NAB has pointed out.
“The NAB has sought information, among others, on the involvement of Global Marketing in the ‘conclusion and/or implementation of the contract’; contacts, if any, between defence ministry officials with Global Marketing’s representatives; factors that influenced the ‘timeliness and completeness of payments’; and, Global Marketing’s involvement in the signing of ‘supplementary agreements’,” the report says.
Besides Indian authorities, NAB has also written to Noor Islamic Bank in Dubai seeking information about the movement of funds from Global Marketing’s account between August 2015 and January 2018 and details of the IP addresses from which the account was accessed.
‘Indian Express’ has stated that is has not received comments or reactions with regard to the issue from either NAB officials or the ministry of defence.
The Indian Air Force employs the An-32 as its transport workhorse and they are vital to maintaining and supplying troops in the eastern and northern borders.
The Cold War-era product has become the aircraft-on-call for all IAF transport, disaster-relief and special operations missions. One such plane carrying 29 persons including personnel, supplies and family members of serving personnel, had disappeared without trace over the Bay of Bengal in 2016.
