AgustaWestland: ED gets five-day custody of Dubai-based director

A court here on Friday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to quiz the director of a Dubai-based company till July 26 in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.

Shivani Saxena, wife of Rajeev Shamsher Bahadur Saxena, a resident of Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, appeared before Special Judge Arvind Kumar after the expiry of her four-day ED custody.

The court extended the ED custody by five more days. She was arrested on Monday.

"Shivani and her husband Rajeev are partners and directors in Dubai-based companies UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings Ltd through which proceeds of crime have been routed and integrated in buying the immovable properties and shares," the ED said.

The two Dubai-based companies received the proceeds of the crime in their respective Dubai bank accounts from a Mauritius-based company, Interstellar Technologies Ltd, the agency said.

Evidence collected by the ED has revealed that the UK-based AgustaWestland International Ltd paid 58 million euro as kickbacks through Tunisia-based Gordian Services Sarl and IDS Sarl.

These companies further siphoned off the money in the name of consultancy contracts to Interstellar Technologies Ltd and others, which were further transferred to UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings Ltd and others, the ED statement said.

An ED official said Saxena and her husband have remitted a huge amount of money through their companies in Dubai to various other accounts.

This is the second arrest made by the ED in the case. In 2014, the agency had arrested lawyer Gautam Khaitan for his alleged role in routing the kickbacks in the purchase of 12 AW-101 VVIP helicopters.

The ED is probing the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The case is based on the investigation being conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which had also arrested former Air Chief S.P. Tyagi and two others in connection with the case in 2016.

--IANS

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