Moving from defence to cola, film biz, says Abhishek Verma

Abhishek Verma is also planning to manufacture ready-to-eat food under the same brand name

Controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma has said he is getting into the cola and food business by bringing a Lithuanian brand to the country under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, besides tapping into Bollywood by starting his own distribution network.

Out on bail after spending four years in jail as an undertrial in a total of eight cases registered against him and his Romanian-origin wife, Verma claims he has exited the defence sector completely having burnt his fingers.

“We are entering the commodity as well as the food sector. We have taken a conscious decision that we will not like to do anything with the government, especially in the defence sector... We are bringing a cola brand in India, besides certain verticals of food products. We will have them manufactured in India as per ‘Make in India’ scheme of the government,” Verma said here.

The brand that he is bringing to India from Lithuania through a joint venture in Olialia. He plans to launch three versions of Olialia Cola, including a spicy cardamom flavour, by summer of next year.

Besides that, he is also planning to manufacture ready-to-eat food under the same brand name. He plans 32 varieties of vegetarian food and about 17-18 varieties of non-veg food.

When he was told that investigative agencies and others connected to the defence sector feels that he is diverting the money made in defence sector to his new ventures, Verma, as expected, claimed he had never made any money in the sector.

“With regards to defence sector, those are merely allegations. We bid for certain defence projects, we were unsuccessful and we came out. We exited the sector. We came out. We made our money in telecom. There is no harm in diversification,” he said, adding that one should also remembers that he is not an upstart and was born into a “privileged family”.

“We have money from our family. It is money from family, money from telecom and some equity from our joint venture partners,” he said.

He rejected assertion that he is just lying low and will continue to work in the defence sector. However, he admitted that “friends” he has made over the years will continue to be friends.

“However, we will not be vying for any business in defence sector,” he said. Verma’s run-ins with the law began way back in 1991 when the Enforcement Directorate booked him under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA). He also became a CBI witness in a case against an ED officer.

Verma was arrested in 2006 in the Navy War Room Leak case. His high-profile clients included a number of foreign companies including one which has been blacklisted by the previous UPA regime over corruption, that led to his arrest again in 2012.