UAE national alleges Khaitan told her not to join ED probe

New Delhi: Making a major headway into the VVIP helicopter scandal probe, investigative agencies have recorded the statement of a UAE national who they have been trying to quiz for the past four years.

Pareen Khan, a 70-year-old woman, has deposed against advocate Gautam Khaitan, a key accused in the case, people in the know of the development said. The Dubai resident has told a judicial magistrate who recorded her statement that Khaitan had pressurised her not to join the probe, they said. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing alleged money laundering linked to an air force deal to buy Agusta-Westland helicopters to transport VVIPs. On Friday, the ED handed over a recorded phone conversation, purportedly between Khan and Khaitan, to a local court, to back its plea to cancel Khaitan’s bail and opposing his request to travel abroad. The conversation was recorded by Khan in which Khaitan can be heard pressurising her not to join the ED's probe, the people claimed. In its plea, the ED had claimed that it had irrefutable evidence to show that Khaitan made all possible efforts to hamper the investigation by influencing this witness. Khaitan had refuted the allegations, and told the court that he had never advised the woman against joining the probe.

According to the ED, a Mauritius-based company, Carisma Investment, that has allegedly been used to launder kickbacks from the deal was in Khan's name. The agency has alleged transfer of millions of dollars from Interstellar Mauritius to Carisma Investment. A few thousand dollars were then transferred to Khaitan’s personal account and his entities including Windsor Group Holdings, it has alleged.


In her testimony last month, Khan has deposed that although she held a few shares in Carisma Investment, she was never associated with any of the business transactions it had conducted and that it was a company opened by Khaitan, the people said.

When confronted with documents, the woman said Khaitan had forged documents of the company to show her association with it, according to the officials. She has flatly denied conducting any business from the company and denied any association with it, while alleging that Khaitan had misused the company, they said.

According to her, Khaitan kept telling her that he had closed the company and pressurised her to not to visit India to join the ED probe after she started receiving summons in 2016, the people said. She also alleged that Khaitan met her outside India, coaxing her not to join the investigation. She was confronted with Khaitan a month back. Her statement has been recorded under Section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code by a judicial magistrate, said people in the know. The witness, an old friend of the Khaitan family, has also revealed the structure created by Khaitan to allegedly launder the proceeds of crime in the scandal, the people said. Khaitan, in his response given to the court last month, said the ED’s plea to cancel his bail was “replete with bald assertions”. Khaitan has said he had always cooperated with the investigation and that the allegations levelled against him were “baseless” and “raised to harass” him.