Agencies track illegal payoff to defence dealer Abhishek Verma

NEW DELHI: A multi-agency probe into defence dealer Abhishek Verma's activities has tracked his transactions in India, part of a payoff of $530,000 he had allegedly received in his US-based company Ganton's account from Swiss firm Rheinmetall Air Defence.

Sources said Verma used a debit card in India to withdraw money deposited by Ganton in another of his accounts. Officials probing the case confirmed that these transactions were linked to the alleged $530,000 payoff paid to Verma's Ganton which was later transferred to his account.

Authorities are probing Verma's links with defence officials and politicians, and are trying to establish links using his banking details. The withdrawal of his Ganton money may prove crucial in linking alleged payoffs received from defence firms for his connections in the defence ministry. The alleged payoff was made by the Swiss firm on the promise that Verma would use his influence with the Ordnance Factory Board to remove a ban on Rheinmetall.

The government had put three agencies — CBI, enforcement directorate and income tax department — on the job of tracking Verma's connections in the defence ministry and details of his bank transactions, and if they were in any way linked to defence payoffs.

The investigation began after Verma's estranged US partner in Ganton, attorney C Edmond Allen, distributed papers containing details of alleged payoffs received by Verma in some defence deals amounting to $400 million.

Allen had also written to the defence minister giving details of employees who were working in Ganton India, a subsidiary of the US parent company, and networking in the defence ministry on a regular basis.

The CBI, which arrested Verma and his Romanian wife Anca Neacsu, is in the process of filing a chargesheet by next month. While the tax department is investigating domestic banking transactions of the accused, the ED and the CBI are probing overseas transactions. CBI sources said they have dispatched a letter rogatory to home ministry which will forward it to the US seeking details about transactions and also statement of Verma's former partner Allen.