NEW DELHI: The CBI on Tuesday questioned V R S Natrajan, chairman and managing director of Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Vectra group chairman Ravi Rishi and V Mohan, former director of procurement, BEML in connection with irregularities in the procurement of Tatra trucks for the army.
The CBI questioned Natrajan on the appointment Noble Thamburaj, Vice Chief of Army staff (Retd), as an independent director of BEML in November 2010.
Thamburaj is currently under CBI investigation for favouring a private builder in a matter pertaining to defence land. The investigation agency also sought details on how and why the BEML allowed change of currency and not levied liquidated damages to companies owned by Rishi which caused a loss of Rs 13.27 crore to the PSU.
CBI investigations have revealed that at least one of the companies owned by Rishi is based in Liechtenstein, a tax haven. Other companies under the radar of the CBI are Tatra Sipox, UK and Messrs Vectra, both based in the United Kingdom. Rishi also owns stakes in Tatra based in Czech Republic and Slovakia. CBI has sought the assistance of Interpol to expedite the process of getting replies to the Letter Rogatories sent to the UK, Slovakia and Czech Republic.