Embraer deal: CBI to seek evidence from Brazil, UK

NEW DELHI: Probing irregularities in the $208 million (Rs 1350 crore) Embraer aircraft deal, in which more than $5.70 million were allegedly paid as kickbacks, CBI is all set to approach Brazil, UK, Austria and Switzerland for information on the aerospace conglomerate, alleged middleman Vipin Khanna and the route of the alleged payoffs.

Sources told TOI that the agency may also seek help from leading Brazilian newspaper 'Folha de Sao Paulo', which had reported the scandal in September, asking whether it had any additional documents on the basis of which the paper had reported the irregularities. The paper had said Embraer took the services of middlemen to clinch deals in Saudi Arabia and India.

CBI has already linked the kickbacks to UK-based arms dealer Vipin Khanna and a Singapore-based company. The agency, sources said, now wants to know how the money was paid through companies and who all benefited in the deal.

In its FIR, CBI has alleged that kickbacks worth over $5.70 million were paid to clinch the contract of three aircraft in 2008. Khanna, whose name had figured earlier too in defence deals probed by the agency, is named accused along with two companies -Brazil-based Embraer and Singapore-based Interdev Pte Ltd -in the deal.

The deal for the three aircraft which were to be used by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for air-borne radar systems was inked with Embraer in 2008. The company has been under investigation by the US Justice Department since 2010 when a contract with the Dominican Republic raised suspicions, the report said.

Since then, the investigation has widened to examine business dealings with eight more countries.

After the preliminary enquiry was registered, Embraer had issued a statement saying, "Since 2011, Embraer has publicly reported that it has been conducting an extensive internal investigation and cooperating with the authorities on investigations regarding alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company voluntarily expanded the scope of the investigation, systematically reporting the progress of the case to the market."