New Delhi: The company at the centre of the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter scandal, IDS India, does not appear to exist in any official database. As reported by TOIon February 14, this is the ‘company’ which received up to Rs 140 crore in kickbacks in the 2010 VVIP helicopter deal with AgustaWestland via the tax haven of Tunisia over a period of around five years.
A search through the records of the ministry of corporate affairs threw up several companies with similar names, but nothing by the name of IDS India.
The IDS connection runs through the entire trail of kickbacks although little is known about the people behind it. Questions are being raised about the relations between IDS Mauritius and two Chandigarh-based companies, IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix, whose holding company is IDS Mauritius. Aeromatrix was promoted by three men, Guido Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and Gautam Khaitan, who are suspects in the Italian investigations into bribery in the Indian deal. Aeromatrix link to IDS Infotech curious
Investigations in Milan into graft by Finmeccanica, the Italian consortium that also owns AgustaWestland, has shown that 51 million euro was paid in kickbacks for 12 VVIP helicopter-deal.
It says between 2007 and 2012 several million euros was paid by AgustaWestland to IDS Tunisia. Money was remitted through Tunisia to IDS India against fake bills raised for development of software. Aeromatrix, registered in Delhi but operating out of Chandigarh, has figured in the taped conversations of suspects in Italy. Until last year its directors were Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, Swiss residents Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
The last two are partners and are suspected to be key middlemen in the Indian deal, while Khaitan figures in Italian court documents as one of those who assisted them. Aeromatrix’s link to IDS Infotech, based in Chandigarh is curious. Aeromatrix was incorporated on June 26, 2009 after it supposedly took over some software work of AgustaWestland Italy that was being done by IDS Infotech. This work continues to remain the mainstay of Aeromatrix, with a modest turnover of around Rs 8.5 crore.
“The project from AgustaWestland Italy was transferred from IDS Infotech to Aeromatrix under a business transfer agreement, which is standard practice in the industry,” Aeromatrix CEO Praveen Bakshi told TOI. But he claimed ignorance about the details of the agreement. This is despite the fact that Bakshi himself was a senior executive of IDS Infotech and moved to Aeromatrix as CEO along with all the employees working on the contract.
COURTESY:
Josy Joseph
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/02/15&PageLabel=3&EntityId=Ar00303&ViewMode=HTML
A search through the records of the ministry of corporate affairs threw up several companies with similar names, but nothing by the name of IDS India.
The IDS connection runs through the entire trail of kickbacks although little is known about the people behind it. Questions are being raised about the relations between IDS Mauritius and two Chandigarh-based companies, IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix, whose holding company is IDS Mauritius. Aeromatrix was promoted by three men, Guido Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and Gautam Khaitan, who are suspects in the Italian investigations into bribery in the Indian deal. Aeromatrix link to IDS Infotech curious
Investigations in Milan into graft by Finmeccanica, the Italian consortium that also owns AgustaWestland, has shown that 51 million euro was paid in kickbacks for 12 VVIP helicopter-deal.
It says between 2007 and 2012 several million euros was paid by AgustaWestland to IDS Tunisia. Money was remitted through Tunisia to IDS India against fake bills raised for development of software. Aeromatrix, registered in Delhi but operating out of Chandigarh, has figured in the taped conversations of suspects in Italy. Until last year its directors were Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, Swiss residents Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
The last two are partners and are suspected to be key middlemen in the Indian deal, while Khaitan figures in Italian court documents as one of those who assisted them. Aeromatrix’s link to IDS Infotech, based in Chandigarh is curious. Aeromatrix was incorporated on June 26, 2009 after it supposedly took over some software work of AgustaWestland Italy that was being done by IDS Infotech. This work continues to remain the mainstay of Aeromatrix, with a modest turnover of around Rs 8.5 crore.
“The project from AgustaWestland Italy was transferred from IDS Infotech to Aeromatrix under a business transfer agreement, which is standard practice in the industry,” Aeromatrix CEO Praveen Bakshi told TOI. But he claimed ignorance about the details of the agreement. This is despite the fact that Bakshi himself was a senior executive of IDS Infotech and moved to Aeromatrix as CEO along with all the employees working on the contract.
COURTESY:
Josy Joseph
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/02/15&PageLabel=3&EntityId=Ar00303&ViewMode=HTML
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