Three aircraft were purchased in a 0-million deal. (Representational image)In the first major action in the 2008 Embraer aircraft deal case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth over Rs 15 crore belonging to an Indian company that allegedly acted as middleman.
The company, KRBL Ltd, is owned by AgustaWestland accused Gautam Khaitan. The attached assets include land and a rice mill in Sangrur, Punjab.
The ED registered a case of money laundering in connection with alleged payment of kickbacks worth Rs USD 5.7 million in the 2008 Embraer deal in October 2016. The case was based on a CBI FIR.
The CBI had booked NRI arms dealer Vipin Khanna, Brazil-based Embraer and Singapore based Interdev Pte Ltd over alleged payment of commission in the deal worth USD 210 million.
It is alleged that the kickbacks were routed from Embraer subsidiaries to Khanna through Interdev in three installments in 2009.
“Investigation under PELA revealed that the accused had laundered kickbacks to India M/s KRBL Ltd via its Dubai based entity KRBL DMCC. M/s KRBL Ltd. played an active role to bring the proceeds of crime paid as commission by M/s Embraer SA, Brazil to India via Dubai through banking channels, “ an ED statement said on Thursday.
The ED, which says Khaitan was a director at KRBL, claimed that the lawyer-businessman played a crucial role to launder proceeds of crime totalling US $ 5.6 Million. Khaitan was known to Anoop Gupta, Anil Mittal and Arun Gupta, all of them directors of KRBL Limited. He was also known to Vipin Khanna and his sons, the ED claimed.
