This story is from May 14, 2016

Agusta-like scam in AI too: Gondia MP

Agusta-like scam in AI too: Gondia MP
Bhandara: Facing heat in the wake of Agusta chopper deal irregularities, the Congress-led UPA is set for another shocker -- this time from a Canadian court ruling. Based on August 15, 2013 judgment by Ontario Superior Court of Justice, convicting a businessman Nazir Karigar on charges of conspiracy and corruption, BJP MP from Gondia, Nana Patole, has demanded probe into the alleged corruption in Air India and the ministry of civil aviation under UPA government.
Karigar was later (May 23, 2014) sentenced to three years in prison for arranging bribes for public officials in India in a failed bid to win a $100-million contract from Air India.
Patole wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and civil aviation minister Mahesh Sharma on May 10 drawing their attention to the Canadian court judgment holding Karigar guilty.
The case pertains to an agreement to pay $4,50,000 to Air India officials and then Indian civil aviation minister to secure a contract for facial recognition software and related equipment. Karigar acted as a paid agent for Cryptometrics Canada (Cryptometrics). Karigar was arrested in 2010 and prosecuted by the Canadian authorities for bid to bribe Air India officials and then minister for securing an order in favour of the Canadian company.
According to reports appearing in Canadian media, in 2005, Karigar contacted a Cryptometrics executive and promised to assist the company in obtaining orders from Air India. An agreement was entered into whereby Karigar and others would help the company obtain contract from Air India in exchange of 30% of the expected revenue from the deal.
On February 24, 2006, AI issued a request for proposal (RfP) and Cryptometrics submitted a bid. A separate bid was submitted by another company controlled by Karigar to make it appear a “competitive tendering process”. An amount of $2,00,000 was transferred from Cryptometrics USA to Karigar, purportedly for the purpose of bribing AI officials, though the court noted there was no evidence that the money was actually paid to Indian officials.

This first payment was to make sure only two companies would be deemed to have submitted technically qualified bids in response to the RfP. The reports added that another $2,50,000 was transferred from the company to Karigar, purportedly to be paid to the Indian civil aviation minister for ensuring contract for Cryptometrics.
The judge ruled that despite the fact that prosecutors were unable to prove that the money was funnelled to any of the Indian officials, there was sufficient paper trail, including e-mails and a spreadsheet created to break down how bribe payments would be dispersed, to show that Karigar and other Cryptometrics executives intended to make illegal payments.
Based on these circumstances, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that Karigar had conspired with others to offer bribes to foreign government officials and convicted him.
Three companies have also been convicted under Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, which came into force in Canada in 1999.
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