The CBI is set to file a chargesheet in the case related to alleged irregularities in the procurement of Tatra trucks for the Indian Army. Sources said the agency has almost completed its probe and collected sufficient evidence to file a chargesheet.
“All evidence collected by the agency during the probe has been examined by the CBI’s legal wing. The agency also recorded statements of certain former defence ministry officials as part of its probe which will be mentioned in the chargesheet,” sources said. The chargesheet is likely to be filed very soon.
The CBI had on March 30, 2012 registered a case in connection with the supply of all-terrain Tatra trucks through state-owned Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) to the Army. The CBI probe revealed that the state-owned BEML delayed the indigenisation process, including manufacturing of axles, of the vehicles as part of a suspected conspiracy, sources added.
Investigations by the CBI also revealed that the agreement signed by BEML with a foreign trade corporation in Czechoslovakia for the supply of Tatra vehicles in 1997 was fraudulently assigned to the UK-based intermediary, Tatra Sipox by showing it as the original equipment manufacturer or fully-owned subsidiary of the Czech firm Tatra, sources said. The probe further established that Article 11 of the 1997 agreement had laid down that BEML should not use any trademark or trade name of Tatra. “But this part of the agreement was not implemented by BEML,” sources said. This will be mentioned in the chargesheet.
The ED is also probing the case and has already sent judicial requests to the UK and Hong Kong for details of financial transactions and the ownership pattern of Tatra.