NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Rediff Shopping

Shop & gift from thousands of products!   Books     Music       Apparel   Jewellery   Flowers   More..      Safe Shopping

Urea scam accused extradited from Britain

Sunil Jha in New Delhi

A E Pinto, an agent of the Turkish firm Karsan and a key accused in the urea scam, was brought to New Delhi from Britain by a three-member Central Bureau of Investigation team on Thursday.

He is being taken to the CBI headquarters around noon, CBI sources said.

Pinto's extradition is expected to give a fillip to investigations into the scam.

The team, led by a deputy superintendent of police, had gone to Britain on Monday to bring him to India to face trial. Other members of the team were an inspector and a legal advisor.

The British government had earlier this month decided to extradite Pinto after he lost his case against his extradition.

On August 9, the British authorities, after three years of filing of the case, decided in favour of an extradition, sought by the Indian branch of the Interpol in November 1997, after issuance of an arrest warrant by a Delhi court on November 11 that year. Pinto was arrested by the London police on December 11, 1997.

The extradition came after Union Home Minister L K Advani, CBI director L Raghavan and other home ministry officials requested Interpol and Britain to support the extradition.

CBI's investigations into the scam had been stalled due to Pinto's absence. The CBI registered a case after it was established that though money was paid to Karsan, no urea was supplied to the National Fertiliser Ltd in accordance with the contract.

Pinto, along with D S Kanwar had unauthorisedly signed the contract on behalf of NFL in India. Tunkay Aalankus, a Karsan official, signed the contract on behalf of his firm.

Alankus and Cihan Karanchi, the Karsan officials who defrauded the NFL, were extradited to India on March 3, 1997 after being arrested in Geneva, on a CBI request. They are at Tihar jail.

The bureau, in its first information report, alleged that the firm paid huge kickbacks to a number of people, including public servants in India.

The CBI charged Pinto with receiving kickbacks. Prabhakar Rao, son of former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao and Prakash Yadav, son of former Union Minister Ram Lakhan Yadav, were also involved.

Rao, Yadav, Pinto, Kanwar, Alankus, Karanchi, M Sambasiva Rao, B Sanjeeva Rao, D Mallesamgoud and C K Ramakrishnan are among those chargesheeted by the CBI.

Pinto's extradition comes after two-and-a-half years of legal battle in Britain. The serious frauds office in the United Kingdom had conducted searches at his residence in October 1997 and recovered documents which proved his involvement in the crime.

The Bow Street magistrate in London then considered the Indian Government's request and ordered his extradition on April 16, 1998. Pinto, while in custody, appealed to various courts and authorities to get the extradition order annulled.

The CBI's investigations revealed that the NFL was defrauded by Alankus and Karanci, both of Karsen Ltd to the extent of 37.62 million dollars in a deal relating to the supply of 200,000 metric tonnes of urea.

UNI

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report