Aviation lobbyist Deepak Talwar also on the run
NEW DELHI: After arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, liqour baron Vijay Mallya, billionaire diamond traders Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, aviation lobbyist Deepak Talwar has fled India.
Following a reference from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on August 9 last year, CBI had booked Talwar and his NGO Advantage India on November 16 for criminal conspiracy, forgery and using as genuine forged documents. Two officials of private firm Accordis Health Care Pvt Ltd and a consultant, T Kapoor, were also booked.
Talwar
Advantage India had received foreign contributions of `90.72 crore 2012-13 to 2014-15 and bank interest of `6.69 crore. It also received Euros 9 million as part of Corporate Social Responsibility from Airbus SAS, Paris, in three equal instalments annually, and from leading European missile manufacturing company MBDA, UK, for Euros 6 million in three equal instalments annually.
“Talwar had left the country when we received the case. He got an order from court that no coercive action will be taken against him till further orders,” said CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal.
MHA’s FCRA division had initiated a probe into the misuse of the foreign contribution in February last year and noted that Advantage India had not substantiated expenses during 2012-13 to 2015-16. The NGO had also received contributions from MBDA and Airbus in two accounts at Indian Overseas Bank at Golf Link in the national capital. Receiving foreign contribution in more than one FCRA designated bank accounts is a violation of Section 17 of the FCRA, 2010. The NGO transferred considerable domestic contribution to the foreign contributions accounts, also a violation of FCRA.
In a curious move, after fleeing, Talwar embroiled himself in a property dispute with Shirag Rajendra Patel, who moved a Dubai court on November 28 last year to seek a travel ban on the former, retaining his passport and circulating his name to all the state’s ports. Talwar’s address mentioned in the court order is UAE-Dubai-Bur Dubai-Dubai Marina Street-Marina Crown Building-Apartment 23-Apartment No 231.