The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday issued a look-out circular against NRI defence consultant Vipin Khanna in connection with the $210-million Embraer aircraft deal. The investigative agency, which had named Khanna in its First Information Report, said Khanna got kickbacks from the Brazilian company to the tune of $5.76 million (Rs 38.5 crore approximately) for the defence deal in 2009, reported The Indian Express. A look-out circular prevents an accused from leaving the country.
The CBI had investigated 87-year-old Khanna and impounded his passport in 2006 in connection with another scam that also involved his son Aditya. The agency registered the FIR in the Embraer case on September 18, after submitting its preliminary inquiry report on September 16. The case came to light in September.
In the FIR, the CBI said Khanna received the commissions though a Singapore-based software consultancy firm, Interdev Pvt Ltd. The money, the agency said, went through Austria and Switzerland. Khanna has not yet made a statement about the development.
The case is related to the purchase of three Embraer-145 aircraft by India in 2008. The allegations against Embraer surfaced in a Brazilian daily, Folha de Sao Paolo, which reported that the company had paid commissions to secure aircraft deals with Saudi Arabia and India.
The deal was signed during the first term of the United Progressive Alliance rule in 2008. The acquisition was part of a project that involved the building of an indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems for the Indian Air Force.
Embraer is also under the United States Justice Department's scanner. The Brazilian daily said Embraer has agreed to cooperate with the US investigation and was likely to reach an agreement with the American officials.
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