Suresh Nanda's temperature keeps CBI officials waiting

NEW DELHI :The CBI on Friday was unable to continue its questioning of arms dealer Suresh Nanda, who sent a note saying that he was unwell.

Mr Nanda, who was questioned on Thursday by the CBI for the alleged kickbacks in the Barak missile deal, was to present himself at the CBI headquarters on Friday morning. However, he informed CBI officials that he was down with fever and could not be present. The CBI, which is keen to complete its probe into the deals, will now approach Mr Nanda for an alternate date.

Mr Nanda is being questioned by the CBI on the foreign remittance amounting to around Rs 400 crore that were transferred into his bank accounts. The CBI claimed that the remittance were paid as kickbacks for the Barak missile deal while Mr Nanda claimed that the money had come through legitimate banking channels.

The agency is also looking into the possibility of Mr Nanda holding a British passport. But the Delhi-based businessman has also refuted claims that he has a British passport or has British citizenship.

The CBI, after a failed attempt, had managed to get Mr Nanda’s passport suspended temporarily for four weeks under the India Passport Act.

But the investigating agency is still waiting for replies to its Letters Rogatory sent to a number of countries, including UK, Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates and Germany.
The CBI in its FIR had named former defence minister George Fernandes, former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly, then chief of naval staff Sushil Kumar and former Samata Party treasurer R K Jain. The CBI had further alleged that the deal was rushed through in spite of the objections put forward by the DRDO.

The CBI FIR had alleged that Mr Nanda paid Rs 2 crore to Ms Jaitly at then defence minister George Fernandes’ house to get his signature for the Barak deal contract. After registering the FIR, the investigating agency had raided 35 premises of six suspected middlemen.

The FIR had further alleged that Mr Nanda had given money to former Samata Party treasurer R K Jain to get the deal through.